Surface and antitumor activity of some novel metal-based cationic surfactants.

The development of anticancer metal-based drugs was attempted by reacting dodecyl amine with selenious acid to produce a quaternary ammonium salt which was then converted to copper and cobalt cationic complexes via complexing the first compounds with copper (II) or cobalt (II) ions. The surface properties of these surfactants were investigated. The surface properties studied included critical micelle concentration (CMC), maximum surface excess (Gamma max ), and minimum surface area (A min ). Free energy of micellization (Delta G degree mic ) and adsorption (Delta G degree ads ) were calculated. Antitumor activity was tested by using Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) as a model system of mice cell tumor. The compounds were also tested in vitro on five human monolayer tumor cell lines: MCF 7 (breast carcinoma), HEPG 2 (liver carcinoma), U 251 (brain tumor), HCT 116 (colon carcinoma), and H 460 (lung carcinoma). FTIR spectra, elemental analysis, and H 1 NMR spectra were performed to insure the purity of the prepared compounds.