Cobalt and Zinc Compounds Bearing 1,10-Phenanthroline-5,6-dione or 1,3,5-Triaza-7-phosphaadamantaneDerivatives - Synthesis, Characterization, Cytotoxicity,and Cell Selectivity Studies

The compounds [mPTA][CoCl4] (1, mPTA = N-methyl-1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane cation), [CoCl(H2O)(DION)2]-[BF4](2,DION=1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione),[Zn(DION)2]-Cl2 (3) and [ZnCl(κO-PTA=O)(DION)][BF4] (4) were synthesizedby reaction of CoCl2 with [mPTA]I or DION and ZnCl216 with DION or 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane-7-oxide(PTA=O) and DION, respectively. All complexes are watersoluble and have been characterized by IR, far-IR, 1H, 13C and 31P{1H} NMR spectroscopy, ESI-MS, elemental analysesand single-crystal X-ray diffraction structural analysis (for 1).They were screened against the human tumour cell lines 21HCT116, HepG2 and MCF7. Complexes 2 and 3 exhibit thehighest in vitro cytotoxicity and show lower cytotoxic activitiesin normal human fibroblast cell line than in HCT116 tumourcell line, which demonstrates their slight specificity forthis type of tumour cell.