Tricarbonyl rhenium(i) complexes with 8-hydroxyquinolines: structural, chemical, antibacterial, and anticancer characteristics

Abstract

Twelve tricarbonyl rhenium(I) complexes in the ‘2 + 1’ system with the anionic bidentate N,O-donor ligand (deprotonated 8-hydroxyquinoline (HQ) or its 2-methyl (MeHQ) or 5-chloro (ClHQ) derivative) and neutral N-donor diazoles (imidazole (Him), 2-methylimidazole (MeHim), 3,5-dimethylpyrazole (Hdmpz), and 3-phenylpyrazole (HPhpz)) were synthesized: [Re(CO)₃(L_N,O)L_N] (L_N,O = Q⁻, MeQ⁻, ClQ⁻; L_N = Him, MeHim, Hdmpz, HPhpz). Their crystal structures were determined by the scXRD method, compared with the DFT-calculated ones, and characterized by analytical (EA) and spectroscopic techniques (FT-IR, NMR, and UV-Vis) interpreted with DFT and TD-DFT calculations. Most of the Re(I) complexes did not show relevant antibacterial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial strains. Only [Re(CO)₃(MeQ)Him] demonstrated significant action 4-fold better against Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa than the free MeHQ ligand. The cytotoxicity of the compounds was estimated using human acute promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60), ovarian (SKOV-3), prostate (PC-3), and breast (MCF-7) cancer, and breast non-cancerous (MCF-10A) cell lines. Only HQ and ClHQ ligands and [Re(CO)₃(Q)Hdmpz] complex had good selectivity toward MCF-7 cell line. HL-60 cells were sensitive to all complexes (IC₅₀ = 1.5–14 μM). Still, pure HQ and ClHQ ligands were slightly more active than the complexes.