Synthesis, structures and anti-malaria activity of some gold(I) phosphine complexes containing seleno- and thiosemicarbazonato ligands.

A series of both mono- and dinuclear gold(I) phosphine complexes containing monoanionic seleno- and thiosemicarbazones as ligands were prepared and fully characterized by spectroscopic methods and, in some cases, by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The in vitro anti-malaria activity of some of these compounds was investigated in chloroquine sensitive strains of Plasmodium falciparum. The IC(50) results show that the sulfur containing compounds exhibit activity similar to that of chloroquine, whilst the selenium derivatives display only moderate anti-malaria activity.