Highly antiproliferative neutral Ru(ii)-arene phosphine complexes

Six ruthenium( ii )- and four gold( i )-phosphine based complexes were synthesized and fully characterized. Some of them displayed strong antiproliferative properties for several types of cancer including colon, breast, and lung. Notably, two of the Ru( ii ) complexes displayed an IC 50 of around 2 μM, which is exceptional for these types of complexes. The dramatic impact of the nature of the arene coordinated on the ruthenium center was clearly evidenced. The introduction of a benzoate ligand dramatically increases the ruthenium uptake in cells, leading to a low micromolar IC 50 .