Six rare earth picrate complexes with 2, 2’ -dithiobis (pyridine-N- oxide ) (L ) have been synthesized. The ligand L acts only as an N-oxide oxygen donor. The complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, and IR, and antitumor activity of [La(pic),L]. EtOH, [Eu(pic),L]. EtOH and [Er(pic)3L]. EtOH complexes were tested with L12l0 and HL-60 cells, the preliminary results of in vitro test show that the inhibitory effects of the complexes were significantly greater than that of ligand. Eu (Ⅲ) complex to HL-60, La, Eu and Er complexes to L12l0 all exhibit significant cytotoxicity and have potential prospect to be further developed.
