In vitro anticancer and antibacterial activities of octahedral ruthenium(III) complexes with hydroxamic acids. Synthesis and spectroscopic characterization

Abstract

Five new ruthenium(III) complexes of the general formulas [RuCl(H₂O)L₂] (1–4) and [RuCl₃(H₂O)(HL)₂] (5), where L = benzohydroximato (1), salicylhydroximato (2), acetohydroximato (3), hydroxyureato (4), LH = N-hydroxy-N-phenylbenzamide (5), were synthesized by reaction of RuCl₃ · 3H₂O with the corresponding hydroxamic acids at a molar ratio of 1: 2 molar. The complexes were characterized by elemental analyses and FT-IR, UV-Vis, ¹H and ¹³C NMR, and mass spectra. The complexes showed higher antibacterial activity against ten pathogenic bacterial strains than the corresponding ligands. The anticancer activity of the complexes against IMR-32 (neuroblastoma) cancer and CHO (Chinese hamster ovary) normal cell lines was evaluated using MTT assay with respect to camptothecin as control. Complex 5 was found to exhibit an appreciable cytotoxicity against IMR-32 cell line with an IC₅₀ value of 102.27 μM.