Antiparasitic activities of bimetallic N‐heterocyclic carbene gold(I) complexes with ferrocene ligands: Relevance of chlorido and phosphino ligands

Abstract

Gold(I) complexes carrying imidazole‐2‐ylidene ligands and ferrocene substituents were prepared. Their activities against protozoal Leishmania major and Toxoplasma gondii parasites were analyzed. Certain gold(I) complexes with chlorido and 1,1′‐bis(triphenylphosphino)ferrocene ligands revealed promising antiparasitic effects. The new chlorido complexes 5b and 5c showed high activities against T. gondii tachyzoites and L. major promastigotes while the new ferrocene‐bridged bis‐gold(I) complexes 8a and 8b were particularly active against L. major amastigotes and considerably selective as to toxicity results from Vero cells and macrophages.