Human acute monocytic leukaemia cells were tested under both dark and light conditions for their susceptibility to Mn(I) and Ru(II) carbonyl complexes with a diphenyl pyridyl phosphine coligand. The Ru(II) complex (IC50 = 7.13 ± 0.8 μM) displayed higher outstanding potency against leukaemia than the Mn(I) analogue (54.58 ± 4.1 μM) in the dark and both complexes were completely harmless to healthy mouse bone marrow cells.