A binuclear zinc(II) Schiff base complex: Crystal structure characterization, antitumor activity and cell apoptosis induction in BEL-7404 tumor cells

摘要

The Schiff base ligand, 4-chloro-2-(quinolin-8-yliminomethyl)-phenol(HClQP), reacts with ZnCl2.4H2O to afford a binuclear zinc(II)complex (1), which has beensynthesized and characterized by IR, ESI-MS, elemental analysis and singlecrystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In complex (1), the two zinc atoms are in a five-coordinated tetragonalpyramidal geometry and a four-coordinated tetrahedral geometry, respectively.The in vitro cytotoxicities ofcomplex (1) against four human tumorcell lines and the HL-7702 normal liver cell line havebeen screened and evaluated by MTT assay, in comparison with HClQP andcisplatin. The IC50 values of complex (1) is in the range of 7.51–15.66 μM against these tumor cell lines, in which the MCF-7 and BEL-7404 cellsshowed the highest sensitivity to complex (1).The HL-7702 cell line was neither sensitive to complex (1) nor to HClQP and cisplatin. This suggests the potent cytotoxicselectivity of complex (1) on thetumor cell lines. The cell apoptosis induction of complex (1) visualized by fluorescence microscopy shows evident apoptosisinBEL-7404 tumor cells induced by complex (1). In view of these results, the central zinc(II) of complex (1) is expected to play a key role toexert the cell apoptosis induction in BEL-7404 cells, which may explain thesignificant antitumor activity of complex (1).