Six organotin(IV) complexes derived from 4-(phenylsulfonamido)benzoic acid: Synthesis, crystal structure, in vitro cytostatic activity, antifungal activity evaluation and molecular docking study

Six new organotin(IV) complexes, [(Me₃Sn)₂L] (1) [(R₃Sn)L] (R = Et 2, R = Ph 4), [(n-Bu₃Sn)L]_n (3), [(Me₂Sn)₄(μ₃-O)₂(μ₂-OCH₃)₂L₂] (5) and [(n-Bu₂Sn)₄(μ₃-O)₂L₄] (6), were synthesized through the reaction of organotin(IV) oxides or organotin(IV) chlorides with 4-(phenylsulfonamido)benzoic acid (HL), and characterized by elemental analyses, FT-IR, (¹H, ¹³C and ¹¹⁹Sn) NMR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The X-ray crystallography analyses revealed that complexes 1–2 and 4–6 exhibit monomeric structures, while complex 3 displays 1D chain structure. And then 1D chain structures were formed through intermolecular hydrogen bonding in complexes 1 and 2, and 2D mesh structures were respectively formed due to intermolecular hydrogen bonding in complexes 3–6. Furthermore, the in vitro cytostatic activities of complexes 1–4 against HeLa, HepG-2 and A549 were evaluated by MTT assays. The results displayed that tributyltin derivative 3 and triphenyltin derivative 4 exhibited the high potent cytostatic activity against the tested cell lines. Moreover, the anticancer mechanism of triphenyltin derivative 4 against HeLa cells was preliminarily investigated, which indicated that the complex 4 induces the mitochondrial membrane potential collapse and cell apoptosis. Additionally, the antifungal activity of complexes 1–4 against three strains fungi has been evaluated, which indicated that triphenyltin derivative 4 exhibited visible antifungal effect. Further, the binding affinity of complex 4 with DNA and bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated by molecular docking simulations, suggesting their capacity to interact with these biomolecules. This study provides new insights for further development of triphenyltin derivative as potential drug candidates.