CHEMISTRYSELECT, cilt.6, ss.12496-12505, 2021 (SCI-Expanded)
A series of new ferrocenyldithiophosphonato complexes of Cd(II) and Hg(II) ions were synthesized and characterized by spectroscopic methods. The
antiproliferative activities of the ligands and their Cd(II) complexes were
screened against four human cell lines using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium
bromide (MTT) method. While the ligands were inactive in the three cancer cell
lines screened, their Cd(II) complexes showed a very toxic effect against all
cell lines. The complexes especially demonstrated the highest efficacy in the breast
cancer cell line among the others. They were found to have higher cytotoxic
activity compared to positive controls used in all cell lines. Furthermore, the ligands and
their Cd(II) complexes were tested for antimicrobial
activity against some pathogen bacteria and yeast strains. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal
bactericidal concentration (MBC), values were found to be in the ranges of
39.06-612 µM and 39.06-1250 µM, respectively. Besides, interactions between the compounds and
plasmid DNA were studied by agarose gel electrophoresis. All of these cleaved double-strand supercoiled plasmid DNA at the
highest concentration indicating DNA cleavage activity. The restriction enzyme
digestion of the compound-DNA mixtures showed that compounds bind to A/A and
G/G nucleotides.