Ruthenium(III) and (II) complexes containing pyridine moiety: Synthesis, crystal structure and in vitro biological evaluation

Abstract

In the present study, reaction of tridentate chelating hydrazone Schiff base N'-(phenyl(pyridine-2-yl)methylidene)benzhydrazide (HL) with [RuIIICl3(PPh3)3] afforded ruthenium(III) and ruthenium(II) complexeswith the composition of [RuIII(L)Cl2(PPh3)] (1), [RuII(L)Cl(CO)(PPh3)] (2) and [RuII(Bp)Cl(CO)(PPh3)] (3) (where Bp= benzoyl pyridine) in one pot reaction. The molecular structures of synthesized complexes were examined by single crystal X-ray diffraction technique which revealed that the complexes are neutral in charge with distorted octahedral geometry. Further, the stability of the complexes were calculated theoretically and interaction of them with biomolecules resulted in change in binding energies dramatically. Complexes1–3 were evaluated for their interaction with calf thymus DNA (CT DNA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) using theoretical as well as spectral techniques. In addition, the in vitro cytotoxic potential of the synthesised compounds were investigated against human breast cancer cell models (MCF-7 and MDAMB-453).