Rhodium(Cp*) Compounds with Flavone‐derived Ligand Systems: Synthesis and Characterization

Abstract

AbstractOrganometallic rhodium complexes have been reported to exhibit promising anticancer activity and some examples have been investigated more extensively over the last years. Based on recent successes of cytotoxic rhodium compounds, this work describes the synthesis and characterization of organorhodium(III) complexes with 3‐hydroxyflavones as bidentate ligands and η5‐coordinated pentamethylcyclopentadienyl (Cp*). The organorhodium compounds were synthesized and characterized by means of NMR spectroscopy and single crystals of the compounds were characterized by X‐ray diffraction analysis. Interestingly, the rhodium complexes were isolated with methanol or triflate coordinated to the central rhodium atom, yielding positively‐charged and neutral complexes, respectively. However, none of the complexes prepared were sufficiently soluble in aqueous media to allow testing their cytotoxicity.