Enantioselective preparation of ferrocenyl amino phosphines and their cytotoxic activities

In connection to our previously reported phosphine compounds as antitumor agents, this article describes the preparation of ferrocenyl amino-phosphine and their possible cytotoxic potential towards the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line Hep3B. The preliminary results suggested that ferrocenyl amino-phosphines can be potential anti-tumour agents which might be considered as novel cancer chemotherapeutic agents. In particular, compounds 4b, 4d and 4f exhibit strong cytotoxicity with IC ₅₀ < 5 μg ml ^-1. These compounds possess more promising cytotoxic activities than their precursor non-substituted ferrocene as well as the reference metallodrug cisplatin.