Synthesis, characterization, antiproliferative, and antimicrobial activity of osmium(II) half-sandwich complexes

Abstract

New osmium(II)-arene complexes [(η⁶-C₆H₆)OsCl(C₅H₄N-2-CH=N-C₆H₅X)](PF₆) (X = p-flouro (1), p-chloro (2), p-methyl (3)) were synthesized by reaction of the corresponding bidentate N,N′-ligands with the osmium-arene precursor [(η⁶-C₆H₆)Os(μ-Cl)Cl]₂ in a 2:1 ratio. These complexes were characterized by UV–Vis, IR, ¹H, ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis and, for compound 1, a single crystal X-ray structure was also obtained. The complexes were investigated for antiproliferative activity in vitro against MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma), Caco-2 (human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma), and HepG2 (human hepatocellular carcinoma) tumor cell lines. To test their selectivity, the non-tumor HEK293 (human embryonic kidney) cell line was used. The compounds were selective toward the tumor cell lines when compared to the known anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil which displayed low selectivity. The compounds were substantially more active against Caco-2 than 5-fluorouracil. They also showed moderate activity against the other two tumor cell lines. In addition, the antimicrobial activity of complex 2 was explored against a panel of antimicrobial-susceptible and -resistant Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Complex 2 showed anti-mycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis and bactericidal activity against drug-resistant Enterococcus faecalis and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 43300.

Keywords:

• Os(II) Arene complexes
• N,N′-Bidentate ligands
• MTT Assay
• Cytotoxicity
• Antimicrobial susceptibility

Acknowledgements

We thank the NRF, THRIP, and UKZN for financial support. JMG thanks Prof. E.N. Njoka for his support.