Synthesis of silver(I) p-substituted phenyl diphenyl phosphine complexes with the evaluation of the toxicity on a SNO cancer cell line

Abstract

Cancer is a disease that is responsible for many deaths worldwide. It is therefore crucial to synthesise and evaluate new anticancer agents that may be more effective towards the cancer cells. A number of silver(I) p-substituted phenyl diphenyl phosphine complexes, were synthesised in a 1:2M ratio of silver thiocyanate to phosphine ligand. Once characterised, these complexes, [Ag{PPh2(4-C6H4CHCH2)-κP}2-μ-SCN-κ2S:N;κ2N:S]2 1; [Ag{PPh2(4-MeC6H4)-κP}2-μ-SCN-κ2S:N;κ2N:S]2 2; [Ag{PPh2(4-NMe2C6H4)-κP}2-μ-SCN-κ2S:N;κ2N:S]2 3, as well as [Ag(PPh3-κP)2-μ-SCN-κ2S:N;κ2N:S]2 4, were evaluated on a malignant SNO cell line for anticancer activity. The cytotoxicity of the complexes was compared to that of complex 4 and other silver(I) phosphine complexes. After a 24h exposure of the complexes, the mode of cell death was determined by morphological studies of the cells under a microscope. An alamarBlue® viability assay was used to evaluate the toxicity of these complexes. All the complexes showed high toxicity at a 10μM treatment (silver concentration), compared to the untreated, vehicle and apoptotic (cisplatin) control. Morphological studies suggest an apoptotic mode of cell death.