Naturally occurring 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinones are well known to form readily stable complexes with transition metals. In this short communication we describe for the first time the synthesis and preliminary data about structural characterization of complexes between two naturally widespread 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinones, namely lapachol (1) and lawsone (2), with selected lanthanides like lanthanum, gadolinium, and ytterbium. When tested as cytotoxic compounds, such complexes exhibited an activity that was either higher or equal to that of the parent naphthoquinone.
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