Organotin (IV) N-Ethyl-N-Benzyldithiocarbamates Complexes: Synthesis, Characterization, and Their Cytotoxicity against A549 Human Lung Cancer Cell Line

Background and Aim: Organotin derivatives are promising agents which have been shown to be effective against different types of cancer cells in vitro. In this work, two new organotin (IV) N-alkyl-N-benzyldithiocarbamates complexes, namely dimethyltin (IV) N-ethyl-N-benzylditihocarbamate (OTC 1), triphenyltin (IV) N-ethyl-N-benzylditihocarbamate (OTC 2) were synthesized and screened for their cyotoxictiy effects.
Method: These compounds were characterized by elemental analysis and spectroscopic (FT-IR, NMR and UV-VIS). The single crystal structure was determined by X-ray single crystal analysis. Anticancer properties of the compounds were investigated in vitro on the human lung carcinoma (A549) cell lines via MTT assay.
Results: The elemental analysis shows in agreement with the suggested formulae of (CH3)2Sn[S2CN(CH3CH2(C6H5)(CH2)]2 (OTC 1) and (C6H5)3Sn[S2CN(CH3CH2(C6H5)(CH2)] (OTC 2). The spectral bands of FTIR showed that the thioureide bands, υ (C=N) appeared in the region 1489-1426 cm-1and υ (C=S) bands in the region of 1001-997 cm-1.The 13C NMR chemical shift of the NCS2 group for OTC 1 and OTC 2 complexes were fall at 197.37 ppm and 200.80 ppm, respectively. X-ray crystallography studies showed the tetra-coordinated geometry for both compounds. OTC 1 show no significant cytotoxic activity (IC50: > 100 μM), whereby OTC 2 (IC50: 1.58 μM) exhibit higher cytotoxicity activity toward A549 cell lines as compared to the commercial chemotherapeutic drug, cisplatin (IC50: 32 μM).
Conclusion: In conclusion, triphenyltin (IV) complex can be a potential anticancer agents and further studies on the mechanism of these compounds inducing cytotoxic effects should be carried out in future.