Dinuclear silver and gold bisNHC complexes as drug candidates for cancer therapy.

We report four dinuclear silver(I) and gold(I) complexes containing two different bidentate N-heterocyclic carbene ligands (bisNHC). One of these complexes 4, shows strong and selective anticancer activity against the human ovarian cancer cell line A2780. Mechanistically, 4 enhances the oxidative stress by stimulating reactive oxygen species production and inhibiting the scavenging activity of thioredoxin reductase.