Synthesis of silver(I) p-substituted phenyl diphenyl phosphine complexes with the evaluation of the toxicity on a SNO cancer cell line

Cancer is a disease that is responsible for many deaths worldwide. It is therefore crucial to synthesise and evaluate new anticancer agents that may be more effective towards the cancer cells. A number of silver(I) p-substituted phenyl diphenyl phosphine complexes, were synthesised in a 1:2 M ratio of silver thiocyanate to phosphine ligand. Once characterised, these complexes, [Ag{PPh₂(4-C₆H₄CH[dbnd]CH₂)-κP}₂-μ-SCN-κ²S:N;κ²N:S]₂1; [Ag{PPh₂(4-MeC₆H₄)-κP}₂-μ-SCN-κ²S:N;κ²N:S]₂2; [Ag{PPh₂(4-NMe₂C₆H₄)-κP}₂-μ-SCN-κ²S:N;κ²N:S]₂3, as well as [Ag(PPh₃-κP)₂-μ-SCN-κ²S:N;κ²N:S]₂4, were evaluated on a malignant SNO cell line for anticancer activity. The cytotoxicity of the complexes was compared to that of complex 4 and other silver(I) phosphine complexes. After a 24 h exposure of the complexes, the mode of cell death was determined by morphological studies of the cells under a microscope. An alamarBlue® viability assay was used to evaluate the toxicity of these complexes. All the complexes showed high toxicity at a 10 μM treatment (silver concentration), compared to the untreated, vehicle and apoptotic (cisplatin) control. Morphological studies suggest an apoptotic mode of cell death.