Novel conjugated ruthenium­(II), rhodium­(III), and iridium­(III) organometallic complexes of triazoles 1 and 2 synthesized and evaluated for anticancer activity against cervical (HeLa), kidney (HEK293), nonsmall lung cancer (A549), and leukemia (MT4) cancer cell lines are reported herein. The complexes are κ2-N,C coordinated and have the formula [ML­(Ar)­Cl] (where L is 1-benzyl-4-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole for 1 and 1-benzyl-4-hydroxymethyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole for 2, Ar is p-cymene for RuII and OsII and Cp* for RhIII and IrIII, and M is metal). NMR studies, including HMBC and NOESY, were employed to unambiguously elucidate their structures and provide their conformational information in solution. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction data have been used to establish the solid-state structures of selected complexes, which further confirm the structural elucidation by NMR. Dynamic NMR studies, such as differential transferred NOE, have been employed to distinguish between isomers 1a_I and 1a_II of ruthenium­(II) complexes of triazole 1. The rhodium­(III) (1b) and iridium­(III) (1c) complexes exhibited good cytotoxic activities (CC50 = 4–6 μM) comparable to that of the drug auranofin against lung cancer A549 cell lines (CC50 = 4.69 μM). While triazole 1 based ruthenium­(II) (1a) and osmium­(II) (1d) complexes displayed modest anticancer activities against HeLa and HEK293 cell lines, the analogous rhodium­(III) and iridium­(III) complexes exhibited good potential (CC50 = 9–54 μM versus auranofin (3–9 μM)) against these cancer cell lines. Insightful NMR studies on the interaction between the DNA model guanosine 5′-GMP and the complexes 1b,c reveal a possible mode of action of the aquated complexes involving carbenylation with DNA bases or purines through the triazolyl proton H-5. From the findings, these complexes could possibly confer their cytotoxic activities through intercalation with the DNA of pathological cells. Therefore, carbenylation of the triazolylrhodium­(III) and iridium­(III) complexes by DNA guanosine 5′-GMP is proposed as a novel mode of DNA intercalation of these complexes in cancer cells.

Cisplatin and other metallodrugs have realised great success in clinical chemotherapeutic applications as anticancer drugs. However, severe toxicity to healthy cells and non-selectivity to cancer cells remains a challenge, warranting the further search for alternative agents. Herein, we report the anticancer potential of a series of complexes of the general formula [MCl(p-cym)(k2-N^N-L)]+ X− and [MCl(Cp*)(k2-N^N-L)]+ X−, where M is the metal centre (Ru(II), Os(II), Rh(III) or Ir(III)), L = 1-benzyl-4-pyridinyl-1-H-1,2,3-triazole for L1 and 1-picolyl-4-pyridinyl-1-H-1,2,3-triazole for L2 and X− = Cl−, BF4−, BPh4−. When evaluated for activity against some cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines (namely, HeLa, HEK293, A549 and MT4 cancer cells and the normal healthy kidney cells (BHK21)), most of the compounds displayed poor cytotoxicities against cancer cells except for complexes C2 ([RuCl(p-cym)(k2-N^N-L1)]+ BPh4−, EC50 = 9–16 µM and SI = 14), C7 ([RuCl(p-cym)(k2-N^N-L2)]+ BPh4−, EC50 = 17–53 µM and SI = 4) and C11 ([IrCl(Cp*)(k2-N^N-L2)]+ BF4−, EC50 < 5 µM and SI > 10). Selected complexes C1 ([RuCl(p-cym)(k2-N^N-L1)]+ BF4−), C5 ([IrCl(Cp*)(k2-N^N-L1)]+ BF4−) and C11 showed significant interactions with model biomolecules such as guanosine-5′-monophosphate (5′-GMP), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and amino acids under physiological conditions, possibly through carbenylation and N-coordination with 5′-GMP, N-coordination with L-Histidine and L-proline. While the compounds showed good activities in reducing pyruvate to lactate, there was no direct correlation between catalytic transfer hydrogenation of pyruvate and the observed cytotoxic activities. As observed in this work, the marked influence of single atom replacement in ligand may provide a pivotal approach to improving the cytotoxicity and fine-tuning the selectivity to cancer cells.