Synthesis, HSA-Binding and Anticancer Properties of [Cu2(μ-dppm)2(N^N)2]2

A set of dinuclear copper(I) complexes with the general formula [Cu 2 (μ-dppm) 2 (N^N) 2 ] 2+ were synthesized and characterized by 1 HNMR, 31 PNMR, and elemental analysis. The high-resolution mass spectra clearly illustrated isotopic pattern for the proposed dinuclear systems. The binding of the complexes toward human serum albumin (HSA) were evaluated, highlighting good binding affinities influenced by the nature of the substituted-diimine. The complexes induce changes in both the α-helix and the microenvironment structures of HSA. The HSA-bindings were modelled by molecular docking; [Cu 2 (μ-dppm) 2 (dppz) 2 ][ClO 4 ] 2 ( 3 ) displays the highest binding score toward HSA due to the ability of dppz in establishing π-interactions. The anticancer properties of 1 , 2 and 3 were screened against COLO 205, RCC-PR, HepGII and LLC-MK2 cell lines and the results were discussed. Complex 3 has better IC 50 against all the cancer cell lines than that observed for cisplatin, but still lower than the cytotoxicity of Sunitinib. Moreover, complex 3 has higher selectivity towards cancer cells over normal cells when compared to cisplatin and sunitinib. Graphical Abstract