Comparative stability, toxicity and anti-leishmanial activity of triphenyl antimony(v) and bismuth(v) α-hydroxy carboxylato complexes.

A series of triphenyl Sb(v) and Bi(v) α-hydroxy carboxylato complexes of the general formula [MPh(OCROH)] and [MPh(OCRO)] have been successfully synthesised and characterised, and subsequently assayed for their comparative activity towards Leishmania parasites and human fibroblast cells. Four complexes are novel; [SbPhGly], [BiPh(GlyH)], [SbPh(R-ManH)] and [SbPh(S-ManH)], and have been structurally characterised through X-ray diffraction. These were combined in the study with the known complexes; ([SbPh(R-Man)], [SbPh(S-Man)], [BiPh(R-ManH)], [BiPh(R-ManH)], [SbPh(BenzH)], [BiPh(BenzH)], for which the crystal structures of [BiPh(S-ManH)] and [BiPh(R-Man)] have now been authenticated (GlyH = glycolic acid, R/S-ManH = mandelic acid, BenzH = benzilic acid). The complexes adopt a typical bipyramidal 7-coordinate geometry with the phenyl rings occupying the equatorial plane, and the ligands on the axial. In contrast to previous studies the Bi(v) compounds show a relatively high degree of stability in DMEM culture media. Promastigote and human fibroblast cell assays showed the Bi(v) analogues to be non-selectively toxic with a respective IC range of 3.58-6.33 μM and 5.83-7.01 μM. In contrast, the Sb(v) analogues provided much greater selectivity (promastigotes 12.5-20.7; fibroblasts 72.8-≥100 μM). Assessment of the Sb(v) complexes against amastigotes at 10 μM showed them to be effective with % infection values ranging from 9.5 ± 0.5-30 ± 1.3.