BIOORGANOMETALLIC CHEMISTRY - SYNTHESIS AND ANTITUMOR-ACTIVITY OF COBALT CARBONYL-COMPLEXES

The interaction of organometallic compounds with biological systems, g enerally called bioorganometallic chemistry, is receiving increasing i nterest. We present the first part of our studies concerning the biolo gical activity of organometallic compounds. Several alkyne-cobalt carb onyl complexes inhibited the growth of human melanoma and lung carcino ma cell lines. They are more active than uncomplexed dicobalt octacarb onyl, cobalt chloride, or the free ligand. A significant difference in potency towards the lung carcinoma cell line was observed among the c obalt complexes, indicating that the complexed ligand may influence cy totoxic activity. These results suggest that further exploratory work with such cobalt-alkyne complexes is warranted.