Tracking Reactions of Asymmetric Organo-Osmium Transfer Hydrogenation Catalysts in Cancer Cells.

ABSTRACT: Most metallodrugs are prodrugs that can undergo ligand exchange and redox reactions in biological media. Here we have investigated the cellular stability of the anticancer complex [Os^II [(η⁶ -p-cymene)(RR/SS-MePh-DPEN)] [1] (MePh-DPEN=tosyl-diphenylethylenediamine) which catalyses the enantioselective reduction of pyruvate to lactate in cells. The introduction of a bromide tag at an unreactive site on a phenyl substituent of Ph-DPEN allowed us to probe the fate of this ligand and Os in human cancer cells by a combination of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) elemental mapping and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The BrPh-DPEN ligand is readily displaced by reaction with endogenous thiols and translocated to the nucleus, whereas the Os fragment is exported

SUBMITTER: Bolitho EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7985874 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature