Three novel Schiff base transition metal(II) complexes induce gastric cancer cell death through ROS-mediated apoptotic pathway

Abstract

A new tridentate Schiff base ligand, 2-((2-(dimethylamino)ethylimino)methyl)-6-ethoxyphenol (HL₁), has been prepared by a one-pot condensation reactions, which was further used in the construction of three novel Schiff base transition metal(II) complexes, Cu(L₁)(MeOH)](NO₃) (1), Co(L₁)(MeOH)₂(N₃)] (2) and Cu(L₁)(HCOO)]_n (3). Furthermore, a green hand-grinding technique has been implemented to reduce the particle size of the coordination complexes to generate the nanoscale compounds. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) studies reveal the formation of square and spherical particles for nano 1 and nanorod for nano 2 and 3. In addition, CCK-8 assay was conducted to detect the antiproliferative activity of nano 1–3 on human gastric cancer MGC-803 cells. The cell viability curves and IC₅₀ (half maximal inhibitory concentration) values indicated that only nano 1 has excellent anticancer activity on MGC-803 cells but not nano 2 and 3. The Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining assay and DCFH-DA staining were performed to detect the apoptosis of MGC-803 cancer cells.