Conception and Evaluation of Fluorescent Phosphine-Gold Complexes: From Synthesis to in vivo Investigations

A phosphine gold(I) and phosphine-phosphonium gold(I) complexes bearing a fluorescent coumarin moiety were synthesized and characterized. Both complexes displayed interesting photophysical properties: good molar absorption coefficient, good quantum yield of fluorescence, and ability to be tracked in vitro thanks to two-photon imaging. Their in vitro and in vivo biological properties were evaluated onto cancer cell lines both human and murine and into CT26 tumor-bearing BALB/c mice. They displayed moderate to strong antiproliferative properties and the phosphine-phosphonium gold(I) complex induced significant in vivo anti-cancer effect.