Enantioselective preparation of ferrocenyl amino phosphines and their cytotoxic activities
Stanton Hon-lung Kok,Wing-sze Lam,Albert Sun-chi Chan,Wai-yeung Wong,Roberto Gambari,Raymond Siu-ming Wong,Kenneth Ka-ho Lee,Johnny Cheuk-on Tang,Kim-hung Lam
MedChemComm Pub Date : 07/21/2011 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/C1MD00005E
Abstract

In connection to our previously reported phosphine compounds as antitumor agents, this article describes the preparation of ferrocenyl amino-phosphine and their possible cytotoxic potential towards the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line Hep3B. The preliminary results suggested that ferrocenyl amino-phosphines can be potential anti-tumour agents which might be considered as novel cancer chemotherapeutic agents. In particular, compounds 4b, 4d and 4f exhibit strong cytotoxicity with IC50 < 5 μg ml−1. These compounds possess more promising cytotoxic activities than their precursor non-substituted ferrocene as well as the reference metallodrug cisplatin.

Graphical abstract: Enantioselective preparation of ferrocenyl amino phosphines and their cytotoxic activities