Ancillary Ligand Effects On The Anticancer Activity Of Ruthenium(II) Piano Stool Complexes

Abstract

The thesis “Ancillary Ligand Effects on the Anticancer Activity of Ruthenium (II) Piano Stool Complexes” is an effort to design better antitumor metallodrugs based on ruthenium(II) complexes with various H-bond donor/acceptor ligands and to understand their mechanism of action. Chapter 1 presents a brief review of metallodrugs and their mechanism of action. Different classes of metallodrugs are discussed. A short discussion on ruthenium based anticancer drugs and their established mechanism of action is also included in this chapter. Chapter 2 deals with the synthesis, characterization and anticancer activity of Ru(II) complexes with P(III) and P(V) ligands. The effect of a strong hydrogen bond acceptor on the cytotoxicity of the complexes has been investigated which allows comparison of complexes with ligands possessing a strong hydrogen bond donor or hydrogen bond acceptor. Partial oxidation of the tertiary phosphine ligands leads to a decrease in cytotoxicity of the ligand, while coordination to ruthenium resulted in a significant increase in the cytotoxicity. A molecular mechanism of action for these complexes was suggested on the basis of various biophysical studies. These complexes bind DNA through non-intercalative interactions which lead to the destabilization of the double helix of the DNA and also unwinding of the negatively supercoiled DNA. Results show that the presence of a hydrogen bond acceptor on the ligand is not capable of enhancing interactions with DNA in comparison with hydrogen bond donor groups. Cellular studies of these complexes showed that inhibition of DNA synthesis and apoptosis occur on treatment with these complexes. Interestingly, these complexes are found to be not only cytotoxic but also antimetastatic. Chapter 3 deals with the synthesis, characterization and anticancer activity of Ru(II) complexes with biologically active S containing heterocyclic ligands and their mechanistic study. Complexation of ruthenium with mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) gave the most cytotoxic complex (H3) in the series. Heterocyclic Ru(II) complexes behave differently as evidenced by cellular and biophysical studies. Unlike phosphine complexes, H3 shows biphasic melting of DNA at higher concentrations which suggests two different types of interaction with DNA. Chapter 4 deals with synthesis and characterization of water soluble multiruthenated hydrophilic ruthenium(II) complexes with urotropine. An increase in cytotoxicity and binding affinity has been observed with increase in the number of ruthenium atoms per molecule. The complex with three ruthenium atoms showed the best activity. However cytotoxicity of the complexes decreases with decrease in the lipophilicity of the complexes. Chapter 5 describes studies on the interaction of Ru complexes with water, ss-DNA, AMP, GMP and GSH by various spectroscopic techniques. Hydrolysis of Ru-Cl bond in the complexes correlates with the cytotoxicity. Chapter 6 reports the summary of the observations of the thesis and the future prospects of metallodrugs.