Of these flexicates,19 [Fe2L13]4+ contains a diamine linker while [Fe2L2a3]4+ is based on a dialdehyde.19 Promising results were reported in a number of disease areas,16,19–21 including good activity against a range of cancer cell lines.20 Here we report the discovery of a new series of highly potent (40 nM) anticancer compounds of the dialdehyde class related to [Fe2L2a3]4+ that preferentially kill cancer cells that lack functional p53, are nearly three orders of magnitude less toxic to healthy human cell lines tested and have low toxicity to microbes, amoeba and caterpillar larvae. Here, TP53 is linked to cancer.