Solution studies were performed pH-metrically to study the interaction of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II) and
Cd(II) metal ions with 5-fluorouracil (5FU) and histamine (Hm) separately (binary) and in the presence of
each other (ternary) at 25±0.1 C°
temperature and a constant ionic strength of 0.1 M NaNO3
in aqueous
solution. The ternary complexes have been found to be more stable than the corresponding binary complexes
as shown by the positive value of ΔlogK. The species distribution curves have been obtained using the
computer programme BEST. On the basis of species distribution results, efforts were also made to prepare
some mixed complexes of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) ions by performing the reaction of their
metal nitrates, 5FU and Hm in aqueous ethanol medium at suitable pH. The isolated solid complexes were
characterized by different physico-chemical method in order to suggest the possible binding site of the
ligands and the structure of the resultant complexes. All these complexes were checked for their antitumour
activity by injecting in Dalton's lymphoma (DL) and Sarcoma-180 (S-180) bearing C3H/He mice. The results indicate that some complexes have good antitumour activity both in vivo and in vitro.