A review on 1,1-bis(diphenylphosphino)methane bridged homo- and heterobimetallic complexes for anticancer applications: Synthesis, structure, and cytotoxicity.

Herein, we review developments in synthesis, structure, and biological (anti-cancer) activities of 1,1-bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm) bridged homo- and heterobimetallic systems of the type L _m M(μ ₂ -dppm)M'L _n (M and M' are transition metals which may be different or the same and L _n,m are co-ligands) since the first such reported bimetallic system in 1987 until the present time (2020). As the simplest diphosphine, dppm enables facile formation of bimetallic complexes, where, given the short spacer between the PPh ₂ groups, close spatial proximity of the metal centres is ensured. We concentrate on complexes bearing no M-M interaction and contrast biological activities of these complexes with mononuclear counterparts and positive control agents such as cisplatin, in an attempt to elucidate patterns in the biological activities of these complexes.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.)