Important cytotoxicity of novel iron(II) cyclopentadienyl complexes with imidazole based ligands

Four new compounds of general formula [FeCp(dppe)L][CF3SO3] with L = imidazole substituted ligands, and dppe = ethylenebis(diphenylphosphane) have been synthesized and characterized with the aim to evaluate their anticancer properties. The new compounds were fully characterized by spectroscopic and electrochemical methods and the structure of [Fe(eta(5)-C5H5)(dppe)(1-BuIm)] [CF3SO3] (1), [Fe(eta(5)-C5H5)(dppe) (ImH)][CF3SO3] (3) and [Fe(eta(5)-C5H5)(dppe)(1HmIm)][CF3SO3] (4) (where 1-Bulm = 1-butylimidazole, and 1HmIm = N-hydroxymethylimidazole) was determined by X-ray diffraction studies. Apparently, these compounds are the first reported 'Fe(eta(5)-C5H5)' half sandwich derivatives presenting high cytotoxic activity against a set a human tumor cell lines predicting their potential value as antitumor drugs. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.