Dithiocarbazate-Fe-III,-Co-III,-Ni-II, and-Zn(II)Complexes: Design,Synthesis, Structure, and Anticancer Evaluation

Non-platinum-metal complexes show great potential as anticancer agents. Herein, a series of dithiocarbazate non-Pt-metal complexes, including [FeIII(L)2]middotClmiddot2H2O1, [CoIII(L)2]middotNO3middot2.5H2O2, [NiII(L)2]3, and [ZnII(L)2]4, have been designedand evaluated for their efficacy as antineoplastic agents. Among them, complex2exhibited higher anticancer efficacy than complexes1,3,4, andcisplatin against several cancer cell lines. Hemolysis assays revealed that complex2showed comparable hemolysis withcisplatin.In vivoanticancer evaluations showed that complex2could retard tumor xenograft growth effectively with low systemictoxicity. Further studies revealed that complex2suppressed cancer cells by triggering multiple mechanisms involving thesimultaneous inhibition of mitochondria and glycolytic bioenergetics. Overall, our study provides new insights into the anticancermechanism of Co complexes, which can be used as a good strategy to overcome theflexibility of cancer cells to chemotherapyadaptation.