To gain a better understanding of the binding mechanism and assist in the optimization of chemical probing and drug design applications, experimental and theoretical studies of a series of amino acid-linked cisplatin derivatives are being pursued. Glyplatin (glycine-linked cisplatin) was chosen for its structural simplicity and to enable backbone effects to be separated from side-chain effects on the structure and reactivity of ornithine- and lysine-linked cisplatin (Ornplatin and Lysplatin, respectively). Infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) action spectroscopy experiments were performed on Glyplatin to characterize its structure and guide the selection of the most effective hybrid theoretical approach for determining its structure and IR spectrum. The simplicity of the Glyplatin system allows a wide variety of density functionals, treatments of the Pt center including the use of all-electron basis sets vs valence basis sets combined with an effective core potential (ECP), and basis sets for all other atoms to be evaluated at a reasonable computational cost. The results for Glyplatin provide the foundation for calculations of more complex amino acid-linked cisplatin derivatives such as Ornplatin and Lysplatin. Present results suggest that the B3LYP/mDZP/def2-TZVP hybrid method can be effectively employed for structural and IR characterization of more complex amino acid-linked cisplatin complexes and their nucleic acid derivatives.

Cisplatin, (NH3)2PtCl2, has been known as a successful metal-based anticancer drug for more than half a century. Its analogue, Argplatin, arginine-linked cisplatin, (Arg)PtCl2, is being investigated because it exhibits reactivity...

Nucleobases serve as ideal targets where drugs bind and exert their anticancer activities. Cisplatin (cisPt) preferentially coordinates to 2′-deoxyguanosine (dGuo) residues within DNA. The dGuo adducts that are formed alter the DNA structure, contributing to inhibition of function and ultimately cancer cell death. Despite its success as an anticancer drug, cisPt has a number of drawbacks that reduce its efficacy, including repair of adducts and drug resistance. Some approaches to overcome this problem involve development of compounds that coordinate to other purine nucleobases, including those found in RNA. In this work, amino acid-linked platinum(II) (AAPt) compounds of alanine and ornithine (AlaPt and OrnPt, respectively) were studied. Their reactivity preferences for DNA and RNA purine nucleosides (i.e., 2′-deoxyadenosine (dAdo), adenosine (Ado), dGuo, and guanosine (Guo)) were determined. The chosen compounds form predominantly monofunctional adducts by reacting at the N1, N3, or N7 positions of purine nucleobases. In addition, features of AAPt compounds that impact the glycosidic bond stability of Ado residues were explored. The glycosidic bond cleavage is activated differentially for AlaPt-Ado and OrnPt-Ado isomers. Formation of unique adducts at non-canonical residues and subsequent destabilization of the glycosidic bonds are important features that could circumvent platinum-based drug resistance.Graphic abstract Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00775-019-01693-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Cisplatin [(NH 3 ) 2 PtCl 2 ], the first FDA-approved platinum-based anticancer drug, has been widely used in cancer chemotherapy. Its pharmacological mechanism has been identified as its ability to coordinate to genomic DNA with guanine as its major target. Amino acid-linked cisplatin derivatives are being investigated as alternatives for cisplatin that may exhibit altered binding selectivity such as that found for ornithine-linked cisplatin (Ornplatin, [(Orn)PtCl 2 ]), which exhibits a preference for adenine over guanine in RNA. Infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) action spectroscopy experiments and complementary electronic structure calculations are performed on a series of Ornplatin complexes to elucidate the nature of binding of the Orn amino acid to the Pt center and how that binding is influenced by the local environment. The complexes examined in the work include:and [(Orn)PtCl 2 + Na] + . In contrast to that found previously for the glycine-linked cisplatin complex (Glyplatin), which binds via the backbone amino and carboxylate groups, binding of Orn in these complexes is found to involve both the backbone and sidechain amino groups. Extensive broadening of the IRMPD spectrum for the [(Orn)Pt(H 2 O)Cl] + complex suggests that either multiple structures are contributing to the measured spectrum or strong intra-molecular hydrogenbinding interactions are present. The results for Ornplatin lead to an interesting discussion about the differences in selectivity and reactivity versus cisplatin.