Stability and toxicity of tris-tolyl bismuth(v) dicarboxylates and their biological activity towards Leishmania major

Abstract

A series of 29 tris-tolyl bismuth(v) di-carboxylato complexes of composition [Bi(Tol)3(O2CR)2] involving either ortho, meta or para substituted tolyl ligands have been synthesized and characterised. Of these 15 were assessed for their toxicity towards Leishmania promastigotes and human fibroblast cells, with ten then being subsequently assessed against parasite amastigotes. The carboxylate ligands are drawn from a series of substituted and biologically relevant benzoic acids which allow a comparison with earlier studies on [BiPh3(O2CR)2] and analogous Sb(v) [SbAr3(O2CR)2] (Ar = Ph and Tol) complexes. Twelve complexes have been structurally characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction an..