Thiolato-Bridged Arene–Ruthenium Complexes: Synthesis, Molecular Structure, Reactivity, and Anticancer Activity of the Dinuclear Complexes [(arene)2Ru2(SR)2Cl2]

Thiolato-Bridged Arene–Ruthenium Complexes: Synthesis, Molecular Structure, Reactivity, and Anticancer Activity of the Dinuclear Complexes [(arene)2Ru2(SR)2Cl2]:

Treatment of an arene–ruthenium dichloride dimer with thiols RSH to lead to cationic trithiolato complexes of the type [(arene)₂Ru₂(SR)₃]⁺ was shown to proceed through the neutral thiolato complexes [(arene)₂Ru₂(SR)₂Cl₂], which have been isolated and characterized for arene = p-MeC₆H₄iPr and R = CH₂Ph (1), CH₂CH₂Ph (2), CH₂C₆H₄-p-tBu (3), and C₆H₁₁ (4). The single-crystal X-ray structure analysis of the p-tert-butylbenzyl derivative 3 reveals that the two ruthenium atoms are bridged by the two thiolato ligands without a metal–metal bond. The neutral dithiolato complexes[(arene)₂Ru₂(SR)₂Cl₂] (1–3) are intermediates in the formation of the cationic trithiolato complexes [(arene)₂Ru₂(SR)₃]⁺ (5–7). Of the new [(arene)₂Ru₂(SR)₂Cl₂] complexes, derivative 2 is highly cytotoxic against human ovarian cancer cells, with IC₅₀ values of 0.20 μM for the A2780 cell line and 0.31 for the cisplatin-resistant cell line A2780cisR.

Treatment of p-cymene–ruthenium dichloride dimer with aliphatic thiols to give cationic trithiolato–diruthenium complexes was shown to proceed through the intermediacy of the corresponding neutral dithiolato complexes.

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