Synthesis of platinum complexes with 2-(5-perfluoroalkyl-1,2,4-oxadiazol-3yl)-pyridine and 2-(3-perfluoroalkyl-1-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-5yl)-pyridine ligands and their in vitro antitumor activity

Five new mononuclear Pt(II) complexes with 5-perfluoroalkyl-1,2,4-oxadiazolyl-pyridine and 3-perfluoroalkyl-1,2,4-triazolyl-pyridine ligands are reported. The ligands 2-(5-perfluoroheptyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole-3yl)-pyridine (pfhop), 2-(5-perfluoropropyl)-1,2,4-oxadiazole-3yl)-pyridine (pfpop), 2-(3-perfluoroheptyl-1-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-5yl)-pyridine (pfhtp), 2-(3-perfluoropropyl-1-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-5yl)-pyridine (pfptp) and their complexes [PtCl2(pfhop)(2)]center dot 1.5 DMSO (2a), [PtCl2(pfpop)(2)]center dot 1.5 DMSO (3a), [PtCl2(pfhtp)(2)]center dot 1.5 DMSO (4a), PtCl2(pfhtp) (4b), [PtCl2(PfPtP)(2)]center dot 1.5 DMSO (5a) have been synthesized and structurally characterized. The complexes 2a, 3a, 4a and 5a have the same chemical environment of Pt(II) where PtCl2 moieties coordinate two molecules of ligand via N1 atom of pyridine in the case of pfhop and pfpop, and N2 atom of 1,2,4-triazole in the case of pfhtp and pfptp. For 4b, pfhtp behaves as bidentate ligand, coordinating Pt(II) ion via N4 atom of triazole and N1 atom of pyridine. All complexes have been tested in vitro by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)bromide-2,5-diphenyl-2 H-tetrazolium (MTT) test on four tumor cell lines MCF-7 (human breast cancer), HepG2 (human hepatocellular carcinoma), HCT116 (human colorectal carcinoma). Compounds 2a and 4b showed a dose-dependent anti-proliferative effect against the three tumor cell lines whereas did not affect viability of intestinal normal-like differentiated Caco-2 cells. The cell death of HepG2, MCF-7 and HCT116 induced by the compounds, was considered to be apoptotic by measuring the exposure of phosphatidylserine to the outer membrane and observing the typical apoptotic morphological change by acridine orange (AO)/ethidium bromide (EB) staining