Cyclopentadienyl and indenyl ruthenium(II) complexes containing diazafluorenone derivative ligands: Syntheses, characterization, antibacterial and cytotoxicity studies.

• Ruthenium cationic complexes derived from diazafluorenone derivative ligands. • CpRu(II) complexes showed better antimicrobial and anticancer activity. • Complex 1 showed the highest cytotoxicity towards DL cell line. We have successfully synthesized a series of eight versatile, half-sandwich ruthenium(II) cationic complexes [(Cp/Ind)Ru(к2 (N∩N) L)(PPh 3)]PF 6 (1–8), where L represents a 4,5-diazafluorenone derivative ligand. These complexes were isolated as their hexafluorophosphate salts and subjected to thorough characterization using various spectroscopic techniques such as FT-IR, NMR, UV and Mass. Furthermore, single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies determined the molecular structures of representative complexes 1, 7 , and 8. We screened the synthesized complexes and ligands in vitro to assess their potential antibacterial activity against three bacterial strains: the Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus , the Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Remarkably, all the compounds exhibited potent antibacterial activity against the tested organisms. In addition, we conducted a cell viability assessment to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the free ligands. The results indicated that the ligands did not demonstrate statistically significant cytotoxicity. However, it is noteworthy that complex 1 displayed more pronounced cytotoxic effects on the DL cell line, followed by complexes 3, 5 , and 7. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]