Catalytic and anticancer activities of sawhorse-type diruthenium tetracarbonyl complexes derived from fluorinated fatty acids

Abstract

The reaction of fluorinated fatty acids, perfluorobutyric acid (C3F7CO2H), and perfluorododecanoic acid (C11F23CO2H), with dodecacarbonyltriruthenium (Ru3(CO)12) under reflux in tetrahydrofuran, followed by addition of two-electron donors (L) such as pyridine, 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphatricyclo[3.3.1.1]decane, or triphenylphosphine, gives stable diruthenium complexes Ru2(CO)4(μ2-η2-O2CC3F7)2(L)2 (1a, L = C5H5N; 1b, L = PTA; 1c, L = PPh3) and Ru2(CO)4(μ2-η2-O2CC11F23)2(L)2 (2a, L = C5H5N; 2b, L = PTA; 2c, L = PPh3). The catalytic activity of the complexes for hydrogenation of styrene under supercritical carbon dioxide has been assessed and compared to the analogous triphenylphosphine complexes with non-fluorinated carboxylato groups Ru2(CO)4(μ2-η2-O2CC3H7)2(PPh3)2 (3) and Ru2(CO)4(μ2-η2-O2CC11H23)2(PPh3)2 (4). In addition, the cytotoxicities of the fluorinated complexes 1 were also evaluated on several human cancer cell lines (A2780, A549, Me300, HeLa). The complexes appear to be moderately cytotoxic, showing greater activity on the Me300 melanoma cells. Single-crystal X-ray structure analyses of 1a and 3 show the typical sawhorse-type arrangement of the diruthenium tetracarbonyl backbone with two bridging carboxylates and two terminal ligands occupying the axial positions.