Scavenging capacity and cytotoxicity of new Ru(II)-diphosphine/α-amino acid complexes

The complexes [Ru(Tyr-)(dppe)2]Cl (1) and [Ru(Ser-)(dppe)2]Cl (2) [Tyr = 8tyrosinate; Ser = 8serinate; dppe = 81,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane] were synthesized and their in vitro cytotoxicities against the MDA-MB-231 cell line were determined by MTT assay. In vivo toxicity assessment on zebrafish embryos showed that although the higher concentration of complex (1) has caused lethality of embryos, the effects of the concentration equivalent to the IC50 of complex (1) and cisplatin were similar in the hatching rate, mortality rate and morphological changes.