Schiff base butyltin complexes C1 ∼ C3 have been synthesized via the reaction of dibutyltin oxide with the substituted salicylaldehyde-o-aminophenol Schiff base ligands (L1 ∼ L3), respectively. The complexes have been characterized by elemental analysis, IR, UV-Vis, 1 H NMR, 13C NMR spectra and the crystal structures have been determined by X-ray diffraction. The anticancer activity of the Schiff base ligands L1 ∼ L3 and complexes C1 ∼ C3 against five species of cancer cells which are MCF7, Colo205, NCI-H460, Hela and HepG2 were tested resp...