Design, Synthesis and Characterization of Gold(I) Complexes Containing Allyldiphenylphosphine as Improved Cytotoxic Agents

The chemistry of gold is one of the most remarkable areas in the basic and applied chemistry research. Gold complexes have recently grown increasing attention in thedesign of new metal-based anticancer drugs in order to overcome the drawbacks of platinum-based chemotherapeutic agents [1]. There have been extensive studies onthe therapeutic applications of gold complexes particularly antiproliferative properties against wide range of cancerous cells [2]. Here we present (Fig. 1) the synthesis, characterization and chemotherapeutic properties of allyldiphenylphosphine gold(I) thiolate complexes of [(PPh2Allyl)Au(SR)], 1a-d, SR = deprotonated form of pyridine-2-thiol (HSpy, 1a), pyrimidine-2 thiol (HSpyN, 1b), thiophenol (HSPh, 1c), benzothiazole-2-thiol (HSbt, 1d) and benzimidazole-2-thiol (HSbi, 1e). The cytotoxic activities of gold(I)complexes have been evaluated against various cancer cell lines by means of the MTT assay. The results illustrated that 1a and 1b had the most considerable cytotoxic activities and showed the highest potency compared to cisplatin. Moreover, 1b was found to be able to effectively inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells by measuring cell death via induction of apoptosis.