Synthesis, Characterization and In Vitro Antitumour Activity of Di-n-Butyl, Tri-n-Butyl and Triphenyltin 3,6-Dioxaheptanoates and 3,6,9-Trioxadecanoates

A series of di- and triorganotin 3,6-dioxaheptanoates and 3,6,9-trioxadecanoates were synthesized and characterized by ¹H, ¹³ and ¹¹⁷Sn NMR, electrospray mass and ^119mSn Mössbauer spectroscopy, as well as elemental analysis. Their in vitro antitumour activity against seven tumoural cell lines of human origin, two breast cancers (MCF-7, EVSA-T), a colon carcinoma (WiDr), an ovarian cancer (IGROV), a melanoma (M 19 MEL), a renal cancer (A 498) and a non small cell lung cancer (H 226), is reported. They are characterized by similar inhibition doses ID₅₀ as the analogous di- and triorganotin derivatives of 4-carboxybenzo-15-crown-5 and -18-crown-6 and in some cases by much lower ID₅₀ values than clinically used reference compounds such as doxorubicine and methotrexate.