AUTHOR=Green Lewis P. M. , Steel Tasha R. , Riisom Mie , Hanif Muhammad , Söhnel Tilo , Jamieson Stephen M. F. , Wright L. James , Crowley James D. , Hartinger Christian G. 

TITLE=Synthetic Strategy Towards Heterodimetallic Half-Sandwich Complexes Based on a Symmetric Ditopic Ligand

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.786367

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2021.786367

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>Multimetallic complexes have been shown in several examples to possess greater anticancer activity than their monometallic counterparts. The increased activity has been attributed to altered modes of action. We herein report the synthesis of a series of heterodimetallic compounds based on a ditopic ligand featuring 2-pyridylimine chelating motifs and organometallic half-sandwich moieties. The complexes were characterized by a combination of <sup>1</sup>H NMR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, elemental analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Investigations into the stability of representative complexes in DMSO-<italic>d</italic><sub><italic>6</italic></sub> and 10% DMSO-<italic>d</italic><sub><italic>6</italic></sub>/D<sub>2</sub>O revealed the occurrence of solvent-chlorido ligand exchange. Proliferation assays in four human cancer cell lines showed that the Os-Rh complex possessed minimal activity, while all other complexes were inactive.</p>