A novel “sawtooth-like” heterometallic Sr-Mo 18-Metallacrown-6 complex: synthesis, structure and anticancer activity

Abstract A novel 18-metallacrown(MC)-6 complex {Sr3(DMF)8[(MoO2)6(shi)6]}·4DMF (1) based on salicylhydroxamic acid (H3shi) has been first synthesized and characterized. The introduction of the large radius Mo ion makes the ring extend metallic species and expand the cyclic size. The six Mo ions show the sawtooth-like arrangement and three Sr ions pass through the center of MC with a linear. The study of anticancer activity demonstrated that complex 1 was valuable to be developed to cancer drugs.