Susceptibility of Leishmania to novel pentavalent organometallics: Investigating impact on DNA and membrane integrity in antimony(III)-sensitive and -resistant strains.

The aim the present study was to investigate the impact of novel pentavalent organobismuth and organoantimony complexes on membrane integrity and their interaction with DNA, activity against Sb(III)-sensitive and -resistant Leishmania strains and toxicity in mammalian peritoneal macrophages. PhM(L) type complexes were synthesized, where M = Sb(V) or Bi(V) and L = deprotonated 3-(dimethylamino)benzoic acid or 2-acetylbenzoic acid. Both organobismuth(V) and organoantimony(V) complexes exhibited efficacy at micromolar concentrations against Leishmania amazonensis and L.