Spectroscopic, anticancer and antioxidant studies of fluxional trans-[PdCl2(S-acylthiourea)2] complexes

Abstract

A library of palladium(II) acylthiourea complexes (1–6) of the type [PdCl2{C8H13N2OS(R)}2] [where R = C6H4CH3(o) (1), C6H5 (2), C6H4OCH3(p) (3), C6H4OC2H5(p) (4), C10H7 (5) or C6H5Cl(p) (6)] was synthesized and characterized by UV–Visible, FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and ESI-Mass spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. Single crystal X-ray structure of complex 4 revealed the monodentate coordination of acylthiourea ligand through sulphur atom to the palladium ion in a trans fashion. In addition, variable-temperature (VT) NMR studies were performed to analyze the fluxional nature of complexes. The interaction of complexes with calf thymus (CT) DNA and BSA (bovine serum albumin) was analyzed by spectroscopic and molecular docking studies. The results inferred intercalation binding mode of the complexes with DNA. All the complexes exhibited good binding with BSA as well. Further, the complexes were found to act as good scavengers of DPPH as deduced from the antioxidant assay. In vitro cytotoxicity of the compounds against A549 (lung) cancer and HEK293 (human embryonic kidney) normal cell lines was investigated by MTT assay. Among the six complexes, complex 5 bearing a napthyl substitution in acylthiourea exhibited a remarkable activity against A549 cell line with an IC50 value of 14.8 µM and was more active than cisplatin (IC50 = 17.8 µM). On the other hand, it showed less toxicity on HEK293 cell line. The cell death mechanism was analyzed by AO/EB and DAPI staining, flow cytometry and Western blot investigations, which revealed that complex 5 could initiate cell death through apoptosis.