Spectroscopic, cytotoxic and DFT studies of a luminescent palladium(II) complex of a hydrazone ligand that induces apoptosis in human prostate cancer cells

A luminescent palladium(II) complex [Pd(L)Cl], 1a was synthesized with the acyclic tridentate quinoline-2-carboxaldehyde-2-pyridylhydrazone ligand, HL, 1. The ligand, 1 showed a selective chromogenic behavior towards Pd²⁺ by changing the color of the solution from yellow to blue-violet, which can easily be detected by the naked-eye. DFT and TDDFT calculations were performed to determine the geometry optimized structures of the ligand 1 and the complex 1a as well as to correlate the electronic transitions. The complex 1a exhibits strong interaction towards DNA as revealed from K_b (intrinsic binding constant) and K_sq (Stern Volmer quenching constant) values, which are 1.47 × 10⁵ M⁻¹ and 5.67, respectively. The cytotoxicity of 1a has been examined with human prostate cancer cells (PC-3) and the sub-lethal dose (8 μM) determined by dose-dependence studies. The relative degree of apoptotic and necrotic cell death using a sub-lethal dose were measured by flow cytometry. The cell cycle analysis shows that the complex 1a exhibits effective cell growth inhibition by triggering G2/M phase arrest and apoptosis in cancer cells. Moreover, its treatment triggers the mitochondrial pathway resulting in cytochrome c release and caspase-3 activation.