Synthesis and characterization of planar chiral cyclopalladated ferrocenylimines: DNA/HSA interactions and in vitro cytotoxic activity

A series of planar chiral cyclopalladated ferrocene compounds were synthesized and characterized. The absolute configurations of three compounds were determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis. The binding of the compounds with Native Calf Thymus DNA (CT-DNA) was monitored using UV-visible absorption spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism (CD) studies. The results indicate that these compounds can interact with DNA via intercalation mode. In addition, the HSA interactions of these compounds were investigated using UV-visible absorption spectrophotometry and fluorescence spectroscopy. The results of fluorescence spectroscopy show that the fluorescence quenching mechanism of HSA is a static process. The cytotoxic activities of the synthesized compounds and cisplatin exhibited different inhibition potencies on the viability of MCF-7, HCT-116, MDA-MB-231 and Hela cancer cell lines. Compound (Rp, S) - 6 was 17-fold more potent than cisplatin in breast cancer cells. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.