Preparation and in vitro investigations of triphenyl[ω‐(tetrahydro‐2H‐pyran‐2‐yloxy)alkyl]tin(IV) compounds

The reaction of SnPh₃Li with X(CH₂)_n O–THP (THP = tetrahydro‐2H ‐pyran‐2‐yl; n  = 3, 4, 6, 8, 11; X = Cl, Br) afforded organotin(IV) compounds with the general formula Ph₃Sn(CH₂)_n O–THP ( 1 – 5 ). The tetraorganotin(IV) compounds were characterized using multinuclear NMR and infrared spectroscopies and high‐resolution mass spectrometry. Anticancer activity of the synthesized compounds was tested in vitro against the A2780 (ovarian), A549 (lung), HeLa (adenocarcinoma) and SW480 (colon) tumour cell lines with SRB assay. The in vitro investigations revealed that when a shorter chain was present a higher activity was achieved; however compounds 1 – 5 were found to be less active than cisplatin. In addition, the most active compound, 1 , enters A2780 cells and causes apoptosis by triggering both intrinsic and extrinsic caspase pathways.