Structural effects on the antitumour activity of organotin compounds 2. Further diaryltin dichloride complexes with nitrogen‐donor ligands

Abstract

Abstract The synthesis and investigation of the anti‐tumour activity of a further series of six new diorganotin dichloride complexes Ar 2 SnCl 2 .L 2 , where Ar = 2‐thienyl, 2,4‐dimethoxyphenyl, 4‐methyoxyphenyl, 4‐methylphenyl or 4‐trifluoromethylphenyl and L 2 = 2‐(2‐pyridyl)benzimidazole (PBI) or 2‐amino‐methylpyridine (AMP), is reported. One of these complexes was found to be active against P388 lymphocytic leukaemia in mice. The results obtained are in general agreement with previously published work. The activity of the diaryltin dichloride complexes is shown to be dependent on the electronic effect of the aromatic group. The use of PBI as a ligand, however, shows no advantage over other ligands used in the series investigated.