Flavonol‐ruthenium complexes as antioxidant and anticancer agents

Flavonol‐metal complexes can enhance the biological activity of flavonols. Inspired by the potential of ruthenium‐based drugs in pharmaceutical applications, seven flavonol‐Ru (II) complexes were synthesized to evaluate their biological activities. Among these compounds, compounds 8, 11, and 12 showed potent antioxidant activities. Compound 12 exhibited superior anti‐inflammatory activity to natural quercetin, which served as a positive control. This study is the first to report the free radical scavenging abilities and antioxidant activity of flavonol‐Ru (II) complexes. Furthermore, compound 12 demonstrated comparable efficacy to 5‐FU against human non‐small‐cell lung cancer cells (A549). These results strongly support the potential of flavonol‐Ru (II) agents.