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The first palladium organometallic compounds bearing N‐trifluoromethyl N‐heterocyclic carbenes have been synthesized. These η3‐allyl complexes are potent antiproliferative agents against different cancer lines (for the most part, IC50 values fall in the range 0.02–0.5 μm). By choosing 1,3,5‐triaza‐7‐phosphaadamantane (PTA) as co‐ligand, we can improve the selectivity toward tumor cells, whereas the introduction of 2‐methyl substituents generally reduces the antitumor activity slightly. A series of biochemical assays, aimed at defining the cellular targets of these palladium complexes, has shown that mitochondria are damaged before DNA, thus revealing a behavior substantially different from that of cisplatin and its derivatives. We assume that the specific mechanism of action of these organometallic compounds involves nucleophilic attack on the η3‐allyl fragment. The effectiveness of a representative complex, 4 c, was verified on ovarian cancer tumoroids derived from patients. The results are promising: unlike carboplatin, our compound turned out to be very active and showed a low toxicity toward normal liver organoids.

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A series of new palladium allyl complexes bearing purine-based carbenes derived from caffeine, theophylline and theobromine have been prepared and characterized by NMR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis and in two cases by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The cytotoxic and proapoptotic activities of compounds have been determined in vitro on human ovarian cancer A2780 and SKOV-3 cell lines. These experiments have shown that the palladium-allyl fragment induces a general cytotoxicity, but the choice of the supporting ligands is of paramount importance for achieving the best results. In particular complexes 4c, 4d and 5d exhibit a higher antiproliferative effect (IC50: 0.09, 0.81 and 0.85 μM respectively) than cisplatin (IC50: 1.5 μM) on A2780 cells, and 4d (IC50: 1.7 μM vs. 5.94 μM) on SKOV-3 cell line. Moreover in many cases it has been proved that the cytotoxicity of our complexes is associated with the induction of apoptosis.

A complete protocol for the synthesis of new palladacyclopentadienyl complexes with purine-based carbenes as supporting ligands is described. The new organometallic compounds were exhaustively characterized using NMR and infrared spectroscopies and elemental analysis. The single-crystal X-ray structure of complex 2b coordinating also a triphenylphosphine was resolved. Some of these complexes showed an antiproliferative activity comparable to or better than that of cisplatin on two human ovarian cancer lines: A2780 (cisplatin-sensitive) and A2780cis (cisplatin-resistant). Moreover, for complexes 2 and 3 (coordinating one purine-based N-heterocyclic carbene ligand and one phosphine) the cytotoxicity is associated with an evident induction of apoptosis. Finally, complexes 3, bearing one purine-based N-heterocyclic carbene ligand and one 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane, proved practically inactive on non-tumour fibroblast cells (MRC-5).KEYWORDS antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic activity, N-heterocyclic carbenes, ovarian cancer, palladacyclopentadienyl complexes, purine bases

A straightforward synthetic route to new N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC)‐gold‐steroidyl complexes is reported. The desired complexes were obtained using a weak base (such as K2CO3) through a concerted‐metallation‐deprotonation (CMD) reaction mechanism occurring between [Au(NHC)Cl] and ethisterone as a model steroid‐based alkyne. Most complexes displayed good cytotoxicity against a panel of cancer cell lines with IC50 values in the low micromolar range. Cellular uptake of the most active complex 2a into MCF‐7 breast cancer cells was facilitated by the coordinated ethisterone ligand.

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Dedicated to Prof. Antonio Togni on the occasion of his 65th birthday and retirement New potential bioactive oxazolopyrimidines have been synthesized using two main approaches: the pyrimidine ring annulation on a functionalized oxazole and the benzoyl bromide trimerization followed by rearrangement and formation of the oxazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine scaffold. The docking analyzes have shown that 7piperazine substituted oxazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidines 8a-8c could be potential VEGFR2 inhibitors with high free energy of ligand-protein complex formation (ΔG: À 10.1, À 9.6, À 9.8 kcal/mol, respectively). In vitro antitumor assays confirmed theoretical predictions that oxazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidines 8a-8c containing positively charged piperazine moiety should demonstrate significantly higher cytotoxic effects. 4-[5-(4-Chlorophenyl)-2-phenyl[1,3] oxazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidin-7-yl]piperazin-1-ium trifluoroacetate (8c) exhibited a slightly higher antiproliferative effect (IC 50 = 0.21 μM) than doxorubicin (IC 50 = 0.36 μM) on MDA-MB-231 cell line and has relatively good results on OVCAR-3 (IC 50 = 1.7 μM) and HCT-116 (IC 50 = 0.24 μM) cells.