metal-organic compounds
Acta Crystallographica Section C
Crystal Structure
Communications
human colon (HT-29) cancer cell lines compared with the
reference drug cisplatin. The recorded cytotoxic activities
could be attributed to the higher aqueous solubility of this
palladium(II) complex, which makes it easier to dissociate in
solution, thereby making the compound bio-available (Gao et
al., 2009). The imino–phosphine ligand N-[2-(diphenylphos-
phanyl)benzylidene]-2-methylaniline forms a six-membered
ring around the metal centre, which stabilizes the complex
during biological investigations, probably resulting in the
observed antitumour profiles (Bacchi et al., 2000).
ISSN 0108-2701
Dichlorido{N-[2-(diphenylphos-
phanyl)benzylidene]-2-methylaniline}-
palladium(II) acetonitrile monosolvate
William M. Motswainyana,a Martin O. Onani,a Jeroen
Jacobsb and Luc Van Meerveltb*
aUniversity of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, South Africa, and
bChemistry Department, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, B-3001 Leuven
(Heverlee), Belgium
The PdII cation in (I) (Fig. 1) is coordinated by the P and N
atoms of the imino–phosphine ligand and two chloride anions,
generating a distorted square-planar coordination geometry
around the metal centre. The bond angles around Pd1
(Table 1) describe the observed distorted square-planar
geometry, while also indicating some ring strain induced by the
chelating nature of the bidentate ligand. The Pd—C1 bond
lengths (Table 1) are in good agreement with the average
Received 21 January 2013
Accepted 23 January 2013
Online 5 February 2013
The title imino–phosphine compound, [PdCl2(C26H22NP)]Á-
CH3CN, was prepared by reaction of N-[2-(diphenylphos-
phanyl)benzylidene]-2-methylaniline with dichlorido(cyclo-
octa-1,5-diene)palladium(II) in dry CH2Cl2. The PdII cation
is coordinated by the P and N atoms of the bidentate chelating
ligand and by two chloride anions, generating a distorted
square-planar coordination geometry. There is a detectable
trans influence for the chloride ligands. The methyl group
present in this structure has an influence on the crystal
packing.
˚
Pd—Cl bond length of 2.298 (15) A for known palladium(II)
complexes (Allen, 2002; Chiririwa & Muller, 2012). The
average Pd—N and Pd—P bond lengths (Table 1) also
compare well with literature values (Chiririwa & Muller, 2012;
Motswainyana et al., 2012). There is a detectable trans influ-
ence for the chloride anions, since the Pd1—Cl2 bond is
significantly longer than Pd1—Cl1, thus reflecting the stronger
trans influence of the diphenylphosphanyl group compared to
the amine (Doherty et al., 2002). The PdII cation deviates by
Comment
Imino–phosphine complexes have been studied since the early
1990s (Newkome, 1993; Ghilardi et al., 1992). Their prepara-
tion is versatile because a wide range of amines and aldehydes
of varying steric bulk are either available commercially or can
be easily synthesized (Mogorosi et al., 2011; Nobre &
Monteiro, 2009; Pellagati et al., 2005; Newkome, 1993; Ghilardi
et al., 1992; Vaughan et al., 2011; Puri et al., 2011; Doherty et al.,
2002; Onani et al., 2010; Motswainyana et al., 2012). The soft P
atom coordinates strongly to soft metals, while the hard N
atom is weakly coordinated and therefore more easily
displaced, thus allowing hemilability. The hemilability of these
ligands provides a unique reversible protection of coordina-
tion sites, an important property of ligands which leads to
improved catalytic reactions (Ojwach et al., 2007).
˚
0.0026 (3) A from the best least-squares plane through atoms
P1, N1, Cl1 and Cl2. This plane makes an angle of 46.57 (11)ꢀ
with the best least-squares plane through the C2–C7 ring. The
Pd-containing six-membered ring has a screw-boat confor-
Phosphine-based complexes have been less well explored
for their potential to inhibit tumour growth, possibly due to
their susceptibility to oxidation, which makes them very
difficult to handle in air. In our attempt to prepare new imino–
phosphine palladium(II) complexes, which could induce
apoptosis in tumour cells, we synthesized and crystallized the
title compound, (I).
Figure 1
The molecular structure of (I), showing the atom-numbering scheme.
Displacement ellipsoids are drawn at the 50% probability level.
Compound (I) has proved to possess remarkable anti-
proliferative activities against the human breast (MCF-7) and
Acta Cryst. (2013). C69
doi:10.1107/S0108270113002333
# 2013 International Union of Crystallography 1 of 3