Complexes [Bi(2AcPh)Cl2]·0.5H2O (1), [Bi(2AcpClPh)Cl2] (2), [Bi(2AcpNO2Ph)Cl2] (3), [Bi(2AcpOHPh)Cl2]·2H2O (4), [Bi(H2BzPh)Cl3]·2H2O (5), [Bi(H2BzpClPh)Cl3] (6), [Bi(2BzpNO2Ph)Cl2]·2H2O (7) and [Bi(H2BzpOHPh)Cl3]·2H2O (8) were obtained with 2-acetylpyridine phenylhydrazone (H2AcPh), its -para-chloro-phenyl- (H2AcpClPh), -para-nitro-phenyl (H2AcpNO2Ph) and -para-hydroxy-phenyl (H2AcpOHPh) derivatives, as well as with the 2-benzoylpyridine phenylhydrazone analogues (H2BzPh, H2BzpClPh, H2BzpNO2Ph, H2BzpOHPh). Upon coordination to bismuth(III) antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains significantly improved except for complex (4). The cytotoxic effects of the compounds under study were evaluated on HL-60, Jurkat and THP-1 leukemia, and on MCF-7 and HCT-116 solid tumor cells, as well as on non-malignant Vero cells. In general, 2-acetylpyridine-derived hydrazones proved to be more potent and more selective as cytotoxic agents than the corresponding 2-benzoylpyridine-derived counterparts. Exposure of HCT-116 cells to H2AcpClPh, H2AcpNO2Ph and complex (3) led to 99% decrease of the clonogenic survival. The IC50 values of these compounds were three-fold smaller when cells were cultured in soft-agar (3D) than when cells were cultured in monolayer (2D), suggesting that they constitute interesting scaffolds, which should be considered in further studies aiming to develop new drug candidates for the treatment of colon cancer.

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Botrytis blight or gray mold is a highly destructive disease caused by Botrytis spp., that infects flowers, trees vegetables, fruit, especially grapevines and strawberry. Three new compounds with general formula (A) 2 [Zn(4-FC 6 H 4 SO 2 N=CS 2 ) 2 ], where A = PPh 3 CH 3 ( 2a ), PPh 3 C 2 H 5 ( 2b ), PPh 3 C 4 H 9 ( 2c ), and the previously published compounds where A = PPh 4 ( 2d ) and NBu 4 ( 2e ), were synthesized by the reaction of 4-fluorophenylsulfonyldithiocarbimate potassium dihydrate and zinc(II) acetate dihydrate with the appropriate counter cations (A) halides. The new compounds were characterized by infrared, 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopies. All these salts inhibited the growth of Botrytis cinerea , with compounds 2c and 2d showing greater antifungal activity than zinc dimethyldithiocarbamate, the active principle of the fungicide Ziram. The bis(dithiocarbimate)zincate(II) salts are also active against the bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus . ]]>