Single Organic Ligands Act as a Bifunctional Sensor for Subsequent Detection of Metal and Cyanide Ions, a Statistical Approach toward Coordination and Sensitivity.

The detection of key ions in environmental samples has garnered significant attention in recent years in the pursuit of a cleaner environment for living organisms. Bifunctional and multifunctional sensors, as opposed to single-species sensors, have emerged as a rapidly developing field. Many reports in the literature have documented the use of bifunctional sensors for the subsequent detection of metal and cyanide ions. These sensors, consisting of simple organic ligands, form coordination compounds with transition metal ions, resulting in clear visible or fluorescent changes that facilitate detection. In some cases, a single polymeric material can act as a ligand and coordinate with metal ions, forming a complex that serves as a sensor for cyanide ion detection in biological and environmental samples through various mechanisms. Nitrogen is the most dominant coordinating site in these bifunctional sensors, with the sensitivity of the sensors being directly proportional to the denticities of ligands for metal ions, while for cyanide ions the sensitivity was found independent of the denticity of the ligands. This review covers the progress made in the field over the past fifteen years (2007-2022), with most ligands detecting copper (II) and cyanide ions, but with the capability to detect other metals such as iron, mercury, and cobalt as well.

Structure-activity relationships of new Organotin(IV) anticancer agents and their cytotoxicity profile on HL-60, MCF-7 and HeLa human cancer cell lines.

There is a growing interest in the cancer cell growth inhibitory effects of organotin (IV) compounds and, accordingly, a new series of dimethyl-, di-(n-butyl)-, diphenyl- and chloro-phenyl tin(IV) complexes with a Schiff base core were prepared. Their binding to DNA was assessed by UV thermal denaturation showing no interaction and by UV-vis titration exhibiting moderate interaction by intercalation. Complexes having n-butyl substituents were more potent and cytotoxic against human leukemia, breast and cervical cancer cell lines than other organotin(IV) complexes tested. Unfortunately, some of these compounds showed similar cytotoxicity in a non-cancerous cell line. We may conclude that cytotoxic activity was dependent on the nature (lipophilicity and size, according to the structure-activity relationship studies) and substitution pattern on the different structures. These results may aid in the rational design of metallodrugs, expanding the scope of organotin complexes in formulating new metal based drugs with dibutyl moieties.