Chemical and biological profiles of novel copper(II) complexes containing S-donor ligands for the treatment of cancer

In the last years, we have synthesized some new platinum(II), palladium(II), gold(I/III) complexes with dithiocarbamato derivatives as potential anticancer drugs, to obtain compounds with superior chemotherapeutic index in terms of increased bioavailability, higher cytotoxicity, and lower side effects than cisplatin. On the basis of the obtained encouraging results, we have been studying the interaction of CuCl2 with methyl-/ethyl-/tert- butylsarcosine-dithiocarbamato moieties in a 1:2 molar ratio; we also synthesized and studied the N,N-dimethyl- and pyrrolidine-dithiocarbamato copper complexes for comparison purposes. The reported compounds have been successfully isolated, purified, and fully characterized by means of several spectroscopic techniques. Moreover, the electrochemical properties of the designed compounds have been studied through cyclic voltammetry. In addition, the behavior in solution was followed by means of UV - vis technique to check the stability with time in physiological conditions. To evaluate their in vitro cytotoxic properties, preliminary biological assays (MTT test) have been carried out on a panel of human tumor cell lines. The results show that cytotoxicity levels of all of the tested complexes are comparable or even greater than that of the reference drug (cisplatin). © 2008 American Chemical Society.