• bioinorganic chemistry
• diiron complexes
• cytotoxicity
• copper and zinc compounds
• flavonoid

This thesis work is divided into two main topics. The first one concerns the period carried out in the Pisa laboratory in which new diiron amino-carbyne complexes with amine ligands were synthesized. A straightforward two-step procedure via single CO removal allows the conversion of the known precursor [Fe2Cp2(CO)2(µ-CO){µ-CN(Me)(Cy)}]CF3SO3 into a range of amphiphilic ionic complexes, [Fe2Cp2(CO)(NH2R){µ-CN(Me)(Cy)}]CF3SO3 on up to multigram scales. Afterwards, the second part of this work was carried out in the laboratory in RCPTM at Palacký University in Olomouc. Here, complexes were tested against a panel of human cancer cell lines, and they were shown to possess promising antiproliferative activity and to circumvent multidrug resistance. Finally, a series of Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes with the general formula [M(Lap)2(N-N)] and [M(Lap)(terpy)]NO3 were synthesized using a natural compound as ligand, i.e. lapachol, to attain new biological systems.