Novel ferrocene cyclopalladated compounds: Synthesis, and in-vitro antitumor activity study

Metal complexes have a significant impact on the treatment of human cancer. However, the scarcity of these compounds, resulting from their limited synthesis, hinders the comprehensive investigation of their anticancer mechanisms. Organic palladium compounds, known for their distinctive stability and properties, are thus an essential area of research in the development of anti-tumor therapy. In our study, we synthesized two novel ferrocene cyclopalladated compounds (C2 and C4). Its configuration was thoroughly characterized by employing ¹H, ¹³C NMR, ESI-MS, and elemental analysis techniques. The molecular structures were determined by X-ray single-crystal diffraction. In an in vitro anticancer study, it was observed that both C2 and C4 exhibited excellent suppression of viability in various tumor cell lines. These compounds showed better potency than cisplatin and demonstrated lower toxicity in normal cells. Particularly, C4 displayed approximately 22 times greater potency than cisplatin in suppressing melanoma cells (B16F10). Our study suggests that ferrocene cyclopalladated compounds have the potential to be promising candidates for the development of innovative anticancer drugs.