Development of Natural Product-Conjugated Metal Complexes as Cancer Therapies.

Platinum-based drugs have revolutionized cancer care, but are unfortunately associated with various adverse effects. Meanwhile, natural product scaffolds exhibit multifarious bioactivities and serve as an attractive resource for cancer therapy development. Thus, the conjugation of natural product scaffolds to metal complexes becomes an attractive strategy to reduce the severe side effects arising from the use of metal bearing drugs. This review aims to highlight the recent examples of natural product-conjugated metal complexes as cancer therapies with enhanced selectivity and efficacy. We discuss the mechanisms and features of different conjugate complexes and present an outlook and perspective for the future of this field.

Spectroscopic studies and structures of trans-ruthenium(II) and ruthenium(III) bis(cyanide) complexes supported by a tetradentate macrocyclic tertiary amine ligand.

trans-[Ru(16-TMC)(C[triple bond]N)2] (1; 16-TMC = 1,5,9,13-tetramethyl-1,5,9,13-tetraazacyclohexadecane) was prepared by the reaction of trans-[Ru(16-TMC)Cl2]Cl with KCN in the presence of zinc powder. The oxidation of 1 with bromine gave trans-[Ru(16-TMC)(CN)2]+ isolated as PF6 salt (2.PF6). The Ru-C/C-N distances are 2.061(4)/1.130(5) and 2.069(5)/1.140(7) A for 1 and 2, respectively. Both complexes show a Ru(III/II) couple at 0.10 V versus FeCp2+/0. The UV-vis absorption spectrum of 1 is dominated by an intense high-energy absorption at lambda(max) = 230 nm, which is mainly originated from dpi(RuII) --> pi*(N[triple bond]C-Ru-C[triple bond]N) charge-transfer transition. Complex 2 shows intense absorption bands at lambda(max) pi*(N[triple bond]C-Ru-C[triple bond]N) and sigma(-CN) --> d(RuIII) charge-transfer transition, respectively. Density functional theory and time-dependent density-functional theory calculations have been performed on trans-[(NH3)4Ru(C[triple bond]N)2] (1') and trans-[(NH3)4Ru(C[triple bond]N)2]+ (2') to examine the Ru-cyanide interaction and the nature of associated electronic transition(s). The 230 nm band of 1 has been probed by resonance Raman spectroscopy. Simulations of the absorption band and the resonance Raman intensities show that the nominal nuC[triple bond]N stretch mode accounts for ca. 66% of the total vibrational reorganization energy. A change of nominal bond order for the cyanide ligand from 3 to 2.5 is estimated upon the electronic excitation.

Recent advances in iridium(iii) complex-assisted nanomaterials for biological applications.

Phosphorescent iridium(iii) complexes have gained increasing attention in biological applications owing to their excellent photophysical properties and efficient transportation into live cells. Their advantageous properties make them useful tools for enabling the intracellular detection of many different species for biological and medical applications. In this review, we summarize recent studies on the combination of iridium(iii) complexes and nanomaterials for intracellular sensing, drug delivery and photodynamic therapy. Various mechanisms and application modes are described and compared, and the outlook and future directions of this field are discussed as well.

Turn-on Luminescent Probe for Hydrogen Peroxide Sensing and Imaging in Living Cells based on an Iridium(III) Complex-Silver Nanoparticle Platform.

A sensitive turn-on luminescent sensor for H2O2 based on the silver nanoparticle (AgNP)-mediated quenching of an luminescent Ir(III) complex (Ir-1) has been designed. In the absence of H2O2, the luminescence intensity of Ir-1 can be quenched by AgNPs via non-radiative energy transfer. However, H2O2 can oxidize AgNPs to soluble Ag+ cations, which restores the luminescence of Ir-1. The sensing platform displayed a sensitive response to H2O2 in the range of 0-17 µM, with a detection limit of 0.3 µM. Importantly, the probe was successfully applied to monitor intracellular H2O2 in living cells, and it also showed high selectivity for H2O2 over other interfering substances.