A new group of arsenic(III) complexes with bidentate S,S-donor ligands, 1,2-benzenedithiol (Ph(SH)2) and toluene-3,4-dithiol (MePh(SH)2), were synthesized. The use of arsenic(III) iodide and bromide promoted the formation of neutral complexes (1-4) with the general formula AsX(LS2) (X = I or Br, L = MePh or Ph). The crystal structures of these compounds were determined using single-crystal X-ray diffraction (scXRD). Unlike other arsenic(III) complexes, AsBr(PhS2) complex (2) was found to crystallize with a rare 13 molecules in the asymmetric unit. The compounds were also characterized by conventional physico-chemical techniques (Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), elemental analysis (EA) and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS)). The results from structural and spectroscopic studies were supported by DFT calculations using the B3LYP/LANL2DZ and (or) 6-31+G(d,p) approaches. The cytotoxicity of these complexes was estimated for human acute promyelocytic leukemia cell line (NB4). They exhibited remarkable cytotoxicities after 48 h of treatment with IC50 equal to about 10 µM and 40 µM for complexes with 1,2-benzenedithiolato and toluene-3,4-dithiolato ligand, respectively. Their toxicity was lower than that of commonly used chemotherapeutic As2O3 (IC50 = 1.4 µM).
Keywords: APL; DFT calculations; NB4 cells; arsenic(III) complexes; crystal structure; cytotoxicity; dithiols.