Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have shown promising anticancer properties beyond their conventional anti-inflammatory function. Metal coordination to these NSAIDs has emerged as a viable option to enhance the pharmacological effect and efficacy of these therapeutics. This study reports the synthesis of novel iridium-coordinated NSAIDs complexes designed to improve biological activity through their iridium metal-mediated mechanisms. The focus is on complexes of the anthranilic acid derivative class of NSAIDs, which have received renewed interest as potential anticancer agents.

These Iridium - NSAID complexes were prepared by coordination of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to iridium complex precursors under controlled reaction conditions. The resulting products were purified and characterized using spectroscopic and analytical techniques, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and elemental analysis to confirm structural geometry and denticity of the compounds. Crystal Structures were also obtained. 

Ongoing work focuses on identifying successful cell lines followed by the evaluation of the cytotoxic effects of the NSAID- iridium complexes using standard in vitro assays. It is hypothesized that iridium coordination will increase the ROS of the cell and prevent prostaglandin production, which will cause an uptake in apoptosis within cancer cells.