Synthesis, chemical characterization and preliminary in vitro antitumor activity evaluation of new ruthenium(II) complexes with sugar derivatives

Three new complexes of Ru(II), namely [RuCl 2 (Glun-N,O) 2 ]Na 2 ( I ; Glun = glucosaminate), [RuCl 2 (1-Tglu)(EtOH) 2 ]Na ( II ; 1-Tglu = 1-thio-β- d -glucose) and [Ru 2 (EtOH) 6 (AL)Cl 4 ] ( III ; AL = 6′-aminolactose) were prepared from the same Ru(II) precursor, [RuCl 2 (DMSO) 4 ] (DMSO = dimethyl sulfoxide). The characterization of the complexes was carried out by elemental analysis, FT-IR, ES-MS, NMR, EXAFS and DFT calculations. The effectiveness of the complexes on metastatic melanoma A 375 was investigated. The results show that complex II is the most active species.