Copper(II) and cobalt(III) pyridoxal thiosemicarbazone complexes with nitroprusside as counterion: syntheses, electronic properties, and antileukemic activity.

In this paper the syntheses of new pyridoxal thiosemicarbazone copper(II) and cobalt(III) complexes with nitroprusside as a counterion and tests on the antileukemic activity of three of these complexes toward human cell lines U937 and CEM are reported. Nitroprusside was chosen in order to test if its ability to release NO can increase the biological activity already shown by these complexes. The compounds were characterized by spectroscopic and magnetic methods and by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.