A series of gallium(III) and iron(III) complexes with five different
4N-substituted
-N-heterocyclic thiosemicarbazones, viz., 2-acetylpyridine
N,N-dimethylthiosemicarbazone (
1), 2-acetylpyridine
N-pyrrolidinylthiosemicarbazone (
2), acetylpyrazine
N,N-dimethylthiosemicarbazone (
3), acetylpyrazine
N-pyrrolidinylthiosemicarbazone (
4), and acetylpyrazine
N-piperidinylthiosemicarbazone (
5), with the general formula [GaLCl
2](HL =
1 and
2) and [ML
2][Y] (M = Ga, HL =
1-5, Y = PF
6; M = Fe, HL =
1-5, Y = FeCl
4 and PF
6)were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, a number of spectroscopic methods (NMR, IR,UV-vis), mass spectrometry, and X-ray crystallography. The
in vitro antitumor potency was studied intwo human cancer cell lines (41M and SK-BR-3). The central metal ions exert pronounced effects in adivergent manner: gallium(III) enhances, whereas iron(III) weakens the cytotoxicity of the ligands. Thecapacity of ligand
1 and its Ga(III) and Fe(III) complexes to destroy the tyrosyl radical of the presumedtarget ribonucleotide reductase is reported.