A novel ferrocene-palladium metal complex: synthesis, single crystal structure, in vitro cytotoxicity study and molecular docking

We synthesized an organic bimetallic complex (compound 2) with a cross configuration, which was prepared by a two-step reaction. The ferrocene Schiff base was obtained by the reaction of Ferrocenecar-boxaldehyde and DL-alaninol, which formed the ferrocene-palladium(II) complex through coordination bond. The crystal structure showed that 2 has a trans structure opposite to cisplatin and behaves as a racemate. In this study, compound 2 was found to suppress the viability of different tumor cell lines excellently with potency up to 20-fold better than cisplatin as well as possessing lower toxicity in normal cells. The mechanism of antiproliferation activities was through inducing caspase 3-dependent apoptosis in vitro. Molecular docking was conducted to predict the cellular target of compound 2 was XIAP, which suggested that 2 may bind to the BIR3 domain of XIAP protein by forming hydrogen bonds with TRY-323a. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, a new organic bimetallic complex with a cross configuration was synthesized, which showed excellent anti-tumor activity by suppressing the viability of tumor cells effectively and possessing lower toxicity in normal cells. The mechanism of action may involve inducing apoptosis in cells to exert anti-proliferation activity.