Novel mitochondria targeted copper( ii ) complexes of ferrocenyl terpyridine and anticancer active 8-hydroxyquinolines showing remarkable cytotoxicity, DNA and protein binding affinity

. Their affinity for DNA suggests that mitochondrial DNA could be the target while their affinity for HSA suggests that they could be transported by HSA in the blood. This work is the first report to show that the ferrocenyl appended copper(ii) complexes of hydroxyquinoline ligands are remarkably cytotoxic to cancer cells but significantly less toxic to normal cells.