Isolation, crystal structure, and cytotoxicity on osteosarcoma of a ruthenium(III) complex with coordinated acetonitrile.

The precursor Ru([9]aneS3)(DMSO)Cl2 (1), where [9]aneS3 represents 1,4,7-trithiacyclononane, was dissolved in acetonitrile at 50°C and stirred for several hours to assess the solvent's ability to coordinate to 1. A bis(acetonitrile) Ru(III) compound (2) crystallized as solid yellow needles upon slow evaporation of the reaction solution at room temperature. The structure of 2 was investigated in the solid state by FT-IR and single-crystal diffraction, showing it to be [Ru(III)([9]aneS3)(NCMe)2Cl]Cl2 · 2H2O (2). To assess the biological action of 2, growth-inhibition tests were carried by the MTT assay on a human tumor cell line of interest to our group, the osteosarcoma MG-63 line. Results have shown that the complex requires concentrations above 200 µmol L−1 at 72 h of incubation to display cytotoxic action on this cell line. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]