O,N,S-tris-chelating ligand scaffolds flanked with cyclohexyl or adamantyl substituents anchored with diorganotin(IV) moieties: synthesis, structures and cytotoxicity

Abstract

The O,N,S-tris-chelating ligand, H2NSCN-N-C(H)ArO− constitutes an attractive scaffold in coordination chemistry and we have expanded this scaffold by installing an alkyl group of different steric hindrance. Thus, the ligand scaffolds containing O,N,S (Ln) differ with respect to the chemical link between the coordinating O atoms, which is either a phenol or a naphthol moiety and carrying a cyclohexyl or a adamantyl groups (L1, phenol and cyclohexyl; L2, naphthol and cyclohexyl; L3, phenol and adamantyl; L4, naphthol and adamantyl). Six novel diorganotin(IV)-Ln compounds 1–6 were synthesized and structurally characterized. The solid-state structures were deduced from single crystal X-ray diffraction data, and revealed the Sn(IV) cations adopting square pyramid (in 2, 3 and 4) or trigonal bipyramid (in 1, 5 and 6) geometries with coordination spheres comprising κ-N,O,S (κ-N,S in 1) ligand chelators and two methyl or phenyl groups (plus a hydrosulfide in 1) co-ligands. Solution state characterizations were achieved by detailed 1H, 13C, 15N and 119Sn NMR analysis including selected 2D experiments. In vitro cytotoxic activities of the compounds were assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay against human histiocytic lymphoma U-937 cells. The IC50 values revealed better activities of diphenyltin(IV) compounds 4–6 as compared to the respective pro-ligands and doxorubicin. More importantly, compounds 4–6 demonstrated maximum inhibition in U-937 cells (IC50 = 0.47–0.99 μM), with negligible effect on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Compounds 4–6 effectively inhibited cell viability event, which was confirmed by detecting cytotoxicity, Live & Dead and Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assays.