Arene–ruthenium complexes with ferrocene-derived ligands: Synthesis and characterization of complexes of the type [Ru(η 6-arene)(NC 5H 4CH 2NHOC-C 5H 4FeC 5H 5)Cl 2] and [Ru(η 6-arene)(NC 3H 3N(CH 2) 2O 2C–C 5H 4FeC 5H 5)Cl 2

Abstract

Arene–ruthenium complexes of general formula [Ru(η 6-arene)(L)Cl 2] where L = NC 5H 4CH 2NHOC–C 5H 4FeC 5H 5, arene = p- i PrC 6H 4Me ( 1) or C 6Me 6 ( 2); L = NC 3H 3N(CH 2) 2O 2C–C 5H 4FeC 5H 5, arene = p- i PrC 6H 4Me ( 3) or C 6Me 6 ( 4), and diruthenium–arene complexes of general formula [Ru(η 6-arene)Cl 2] 2(L) where L = 1,1′-(NC 5H 4CH 2NHOC) 2-C 5H 4FeC 5H 4, arene = p- i PrC 6H 4Me ( 5) or C 6Me 6 ( 6); L = 1,1′-(NC 3H 3N(CH 2) 2O 2C) 2–C 5H 4FeC 5H 4, arene = p- i PrC 6H 4Me ( 7) or C 6Me 6 ( 8) have been synthesized and characterized. The molecular structures of 1 and 3 were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The in vitro anticancer activities of complexes 1– 8 have been studied comparatively to the uncoordinated ligands. The complexes exhibit fairly low cytotoxicities in comparison to related ferrocene-derived arene–ruthenium complexes.