Raymond Wai-Yin Sun,* Ming Zhang, Dan Li,* Mian Li, and
Abstract:An anti-cancer active gold(III) pyrrolidinedithiocarbamato complex [(PDTC)AuIIICl2] (1) has been synthesized and characterized by means of X-ray crystallography. Compared to the pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate ligand itself,this gold(III) complex displays an up to 33-fold higher anti-cancer potency towards a panel of cancer cell lines including the cisplatin-resistant ovarian carcinoma cell line (A2780cis). As demonstrated by a set of Transwell assay-based cytotoxicity experiments, incorporating this gold(III) complex in a zinc-based biodegradable metalorganic framework (MOF) displays a significant enhancement in anti-cancer activity towards A2780cis than the gold(III) complex alone.