Replacing organic groups with organometallic fragments in molecules with biological activity is a viable route toward new biologically active compounds.1 An attractive surrogate of aryl groups is the ferrocene unit, due to its high chemical stability, and unique properties. Although several approaches have been explored to prepare ferrocene analogs of biologically active compounds, the most common is to introduce modifications on the benzene rings and substituents localized at the double bond carbon adjacent to the ferrocene moiety.
In this contribution, Schulz and co-workers report a novel approach for the modification of the parent ferrociphenol structure combining functional moieties by introducing them on the two cyclopentadienyl rings available in the structure. The selected diphenylphosphino moiety enables the further structure modification by altering the phosphine group or by its coordination to a transition metal fragment. The study includes the electrochemical profiles of these compounds and the outcomes of preliminary biological experiments, demonstrating their antiproliferative potential against human breast adenocarcinoma, lung cancer, and non-tumorigenic cell lines.
- Introduction of a Phosphine Group onto the Ferrocene Moiety in Ferrociphenol Opens Access to New Heterobimetallic Complexes with Anticancer Activity
Magda Křelinová, Michèle Salmain, Petr Štěpnička, Ivana Císařová, Benoît Bertrand, Jiří Schulz
ChemistryEurope 2025
doi.org/10.1002/ceur.202500048
