Synthesis,characterization,and crystal structures of bis-imidazolium salts and respective dinuclear Ag(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes: in vitro anticancer studies against human colon cancer and breast cancer

This paper describes synthesis,characterization (nmr,ft-ir,microanalysis,and x-ray crystallography),in vitro anticancer activity of ortho/para-xylyl linked bis-imidazolium salts (4-5) and respective dinuclear ag(i) n-heterocyclic carbene (nhc) complexes (6-7). all the compounds were tested for their cytotoxicity against human colorectal cancer (hct 116) and breast cancer (mcf-7) cell lines. according to cell viability measurements using mtt assay,all the complexes (6-7) showed a dose-dependent cytotoxic activity against both the cell lines,whereas respective salts (4-5) proved to be inactive. the complexes (6-7) demonstrated significant activity with ic 50 values range 5.6-20.3 m for hct 116 and 1.12-6.38 m for mcf-7. 5-fluorouracil was used as standard drug (ic50 = 5.9 m) for hct 116,whereas tamoxifen was used as standard drug for mcf-7 (ic50 = 14 m) cell line. © 2013 rosenani a. haque et al.