Ruthenium metal complexes in anticancer activity

Abstract

The discovery of first anticancer drug cisplatin was a path breaker in the world of medicinal chemistry, but due to undesirable side effects and acquired resistance over years, scientists are searching for alternative strategies involving novel metal-based compounds having improved pharmacological properties. Ruthenium complexes have emerged as prospective candidates to combat the side effects and improve the selectivity of anticancer agents. In this work a benzimidazole based chelating ligand HL (4-(1H-Naphth[2,3- d]imidazol-2-yl)-1,3-benzenediol) with O and N as donor centres was synthesized, and was used for complexation with ruthenium to obtain three Ru(II) arene complexes represented by [Ru( 6 -p-cym)(L)(X)] or [Ru( 6 -p-cym)(L)(X)]+ (where p-cym = p-cymene, X = (i) Cl, (ii) PPh3 = triphenyl phosphine, (iii) PTA = 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane). The synthesized complexes were characterized using mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy, FTIR, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. Using absorption spectroscopy the stability of the complexes in biological medium was analysed and partition coefficient in n-octanol and water was calculated to study the lipophilicity of the complexes.