Two silicon-containing analogues (1, 2) of chloroquine, modified in the lateral side chain with
organosilicon moieties, were synthesized. Compounds 1 and 2 were further reacted with dinuclear half-sandwich
transition metal precursors [Ru(Ar)(μ-Cl)Cl]2 (Ar
= η6-p-iPrC6H4Me;
η6-C6H6; η6-C6H5OCH2CH2OH), [Rh(COD)(μ-Cl)]2, and [RhCp*(μ-Cl)Cl]2, to yield a series
of neutral mononuclear Ru(II), Rh(I), and Rh(III) silicon-aminoquinoline
complexes (3–12). Compounds 1 and 2 act as monodentate donors that coordinate
to the transition metals via the quinoline nitrogen of the aminoquinoline
scaffold. All the compounds were characterized using various analytical
and spectroscopic techniques, and the molecular structures of compounds 2 and 11 were elucidated by single-crystal X-ray
diffraction analysis. Furthermore, the in vitro pharmacological
activities of compounds 1–12 were
established against chloroquine-sensitive (NF54) and chloroquine-resistant
(Dd2) strains of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum and against the pathogenic bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, as well as an esophageal (WHCO1) cancer
cell line.