Synthesis, Characterization, and Anticancer Studies of Dimethylene Bridged Bis Tri-n-heterocyclic Carbene Trinuclear Silver(I)

Introduction: Cancer therapy generally commences precisely following some cells in a specified location of the body begin growing uncontrollably and additionally penetrate the whole body; they keep on with their anomalous spread and consume entire nutrients from the non-infected cells, which ultimately causes the demise of cells. The admiration of N-heterocyclic carbenes commenced following the work of Öfele and Wanzlick when they first synthesized them and identified them as ligands in metal complexes. This research aims to synthesize, characterize, and study the anti-tumour potential of the tris-NHC salts and their corresponding Ag(I) complexes. Materials and methods: Tris-benzimidazolium salts (1 and 2) and their respective open-chain Ag1 and Ag2 complexes were synthesized. The salts formed from the reaction between 3-(2-bromoethyl)-alkylbenzimidazolium bromide and benzimidazole in equimolar concentrations. The complexes were obtained by in situ deprotonation reaction of the salts with 1.5 equivalent of Ag2O in 1,4-dioxane and methanol. FT-IR, 1H, and 13C NMR, elemental analysis, melting point, and solubility test fully characterized the compounds. The anti-tumour study was carried out with MCF-7 cells. Results: All the composites were afirmed by various characterization methods. Salts did not show any activity; the IC50 obtained for Ag1 and Ag2 were 6.35±0.6, 6.00±0.2 μM while tamoxifen gave 19.7±0.3 μM IC50, which is lower than the tested compounds. Conclusion: Two salts and two Ag(I) complexes were synthesized and characterized, and their anticancer potential was studied.