Controlling ligand substitution reactions of organometallic complexes: tuning cancer cell cytotoxicity.

ABSTRACT: Organometallic compounds offer broad scope for the design of therapeutic agents, but this avenue has yet to be widely explored. A key concept in the design of anticancer complexes is optimization of chemical reactivity to allow facile attack on the target site (e.g., DNA) yet avoid attack on other sites associated with unwanted side effects. Here, we consider how this result can be achieved for monofunctional "piano-stool" ruthenium(II) arene complexes of the type [(eta6-arene)Ru(ethylenediamine)(X)]n+. A potentially important activation mechanism for reactions with biomolecules is hydrolysis. Density functional calculations suggested that aquation (substitution of X by H2O) occurs by means of a concerted ligand interchange mechanism. We studied the kinetics and equilibria for hydrolysis o

SUBMITTER: Wang F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1317918 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature