Organometallic ruthenium and osmium compounds of pyridin-2- and -4-ones as potential anticancer agents.

Organometallic Ru(II) compounds are among the most widely studied anticancer agents. Functionalizing metal centers with biomolecule-derived ligands has been shown to be a promising strategy to improve the antiproliferative activity of metal-based chemotherapeutics. Herein, the synthesis of a series of novel 3-hydroxypyridin-2-one-derived ligands and their M(II)(η(6)-p-cymene) half-sandwich complexes (M = Ru, Os) is described. The compounds were characterized by 1D- and 2D-NMR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis.