A simple synthetic entryway into new families of NHC-gold-amido complexes and their in vitro antitumor activity.

A simple synthetic pathway to Au-NHC amido complexes is described. Syntheses and isolation of [Au(NHC)(NR ¹ R ² )] complexes, bearing various NHC ligands and NH-containing heterocycles under mild conditions are reported. The in vitro anticancer activity of these gold-complexes was investigated on three human cancer cell lines. A number of these show comparable or even better antiproliferative activity than cisplatin. Noteworthy is the non-toxicity of most of the complexes on normal cells.