Six mixed ligand dithiocarbamate Pd(II) complexes (1-6) of general formula [(DT)Pd(PR3)Cl], where DT = dimethyldithiocarbamate (1, 5), diethyldithiocarbamate (2, 3), dicyclohexyldithiocarbamate (4), bis(2-methoxyethyl)dithiocarbamate (6); PR3 = benzyldiphenylphosphine (1), dipheny1-2-methoxy-phenylphosphine (2), diphenyl-p-tolylphosphine (3), diphenyl-m-tolylphosphine (4), tricyclohexylphosphine (5), diphenyl-2-pyridylphosphine (6) have been synthesized and characterised using Elemental analysis, FT-IR, Raman and multinuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Compounds 1 and 2 were also characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction technique (XRD). The XRD study reveals that the Pd(II) moiety has a pseudo square-planar geometry, in which two positions are occupied by the dithiocarbamate ligand in a bidentate fashion, while at the remaining two positions organophosphine and chloride are present. The anticancer activity of the synthesized metallodrugs was checked against DU145 human prostate carcinoma (HTB-81) cells, the IC50 values indicate that the compounds are highly active against these cells. These Pd(II) complexes also show moderate antibacterial activity against gram positive and gram negative bacteria. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.