The development of preferentially selective cancer chemotherapeutics is a new trend in drug research. Thus, we designed and synthesized novel ternary complexes, [Cu(tryp)(Hnor)₂(DMSO)]NO₃ (1) and [Zn(tryp)(Hnor)₂(DMSO)]NO₃ (2) (tryp = DL-Tryptophane; Hnor = Norharmane, β-carboline; DMSO = Dimethyl sulfoxide), characterized with elemental analysis, FTIR, UV–vis, FL, NMR, ESI-MS, and molar conductivity. Furthermore, the TD-DFT studies with UV–vis and FTIR validated the proposed structures of 1 and 2. Moreover, we evaluated the HOMO-LUMO energy gap and found that 1 has a smaller energy gap than 2. Then, 1 and 2 were assessed for anticancer chemotherapeutic potential against cancer cell lines MCF7 (human breast cancer) and HepG2 (human liver hepatocellular carcinoma) as well as the non-tumorigenic HEK293 (human embryonic kidney) cells. The MTT assay illustrated the preferentially cytotoxic behavior of 1 when compared with that of 2 and cisplatin (standard drug) against MCF7 cells. Moreover, 1 was exposed to MCF7 cells, and the results indicated the arrest of the G2/M phases, which followed the apoptotic pathway predominantly. Generation of ROS, GSH depletion, and elevation in LPO validated the redox changes prompted by 1. These studies establish the great potential of 1 as a candidate for anticancer therapeutics.

优先选择癌症化学疗法的发展是药物研究的新趋势。因此，我们设计并合成了新型三元络合物[Cu（tryp）（Hnor）₂（DMSO）] NO ₃（1）和[Zn（tryp）（Hnor）₂（DMSO）] NO ₃ （2）（tryp = DL-色氨酸； Hnor =去氯烷，β-咔啉； DMSO =二甲基亚砜），具有元素分析，FTIR，UV-vis，FL，NMR，ESI-MS和摩尔电导率的特征。此外，使用UV-vis和FTIR进行的TD-DFT研究验证了1和2的拟议结构。此外，我们评估了HOMO-LUMO能隙，发现1的能隙小于2。然后，评估1和2对癌细胞系MCF7（人类乳腺癌）和HepG2（人类肝肝细胞癌）以及非致瘤性HEK293（人类胚胎肾脏）细胞的抗癌化学治疗潜力。MTT分析显示，与2和顺铂（标准药物）相比，MCT7细胞具有优先的1细胞毒性行为。此外，将1暴露于MCF7细胞，结果表明G2 / M期停滞，其主要遵循凋亡途径。ROS，GSH耗竭和LPO升高的产生验证了1提示的氧化还原变化。这些研究建立了巨大的潜力1作为抗癌治疗的候选药物。