| Abstract: | Two new vicinal dioxime ligands containing thiosemicarbazone units (L1H2 and L2H2) were synthesized and characterized using 1H NMR, 13C NMR, heteronuclear multiple quantum correlation, mass, infrared and UV–visible spectroscopies, elemental analysis and magnetic susceptibility measurements. In addition, homotrinuclear nickel(II), copper(II) and cobalt(II) complexes with a metal‐to‐ligand ratio of 3:2 for L1H2 and L2H2 were prepared. Synthesis of nickel(II) complex containing a BF2+ bridge was carried out using a precursor hydrogen‐bridged nickel(II) complex via the template effect. All metal–ligand complexes were tested against two human cancer cell lines (HL‐60 and HT‐29) for their antiproliferative and apoptotic activities. The results showed that [Co(L2H)2(H2O)2] and [Ni(L2H)2] exhibited the strongest antiproliferative activity with IpC50 values ranging between 5 and 10 μM, while [Co(L2H)2(H2O)2] and [Ni(L2H)2] both induced necrosis of HT‐29 cells and 60 and 65% apoptosis in HL‐60 cells, respectively. |
