Cancer is rapidly becoming the top killer in the world. Most of the FDA approved anticancer drugs are organic molecules, while metallodrugs are very scarce. The advent of first metal based therapeutic agent, cisplatin, launched a new era in the application of transition metal complexes for therapeutic design. Due to their unique and versatile biochemical properties, ruthenium-based compounds have emerged as promising anti-cancer agents that serve as alternatives to cisplatin and its derivertives. The ruthenium(III) complexes have successfully been used in clinical research and their mechanisms of anticancer action have been reported in large volumes over the past few decades. Ruthenium(II) complexes have also attracted significant attention as anticancer candidates; however, only few of them have been reported comprehensively. In this review, we discuss the development of ruthenium(II) complexes as anticancer candidates and biocatalysts, including arene ruthenium complexes, polypyridyl ruthenium complexes, and ruthenium nanomaterial complexes. This review focuses on the likely mechanisms of action of ruthenium(II)-based anticancer drugs and the relationship between their chemical structures and biological properties. This review also highlights the catalytic activity and the photoinduced activation of ruthenium(II) complexes, their targeted delivery, and their activity in nanomaterial systems.
Metalloporphyrins [Mn(III) and In(III)] are investigated as active polymer fihn components in the design of reversible anion-selective optical sensors. The optical measurements are made by casting thin plasticiied polymer films (PVC, polyurethane, etc.) containing the given metalloporphyrhts on glass plates. When bathed in aqueous test solutions, the optical response of such fihns is based upon the selective extraction of anions by metalloporphyrins into the organic membrane phase. Changes in optical absorbance occur via either of two mechanisms. For fihns based on Mn(II1) tetraphenylporphyrins, the porphyrin itself can serve simultaneously as the ionophore and chromophore for the detection of iodide ions. In this instance, direct ligation of iodide as an axial ligand of the central Mn(II1) results in a change in the molar absorptivity of the soret band of the porphyrin. In the case of In(II1) octaethylporphyrin, the incorporation of an appropriate pH-indicator dye along with the metalloporphyrin is required to achieve films with optical selectivity toward nitrite and chloride. The analytical characteristics of these porphyrin-based fihns with respect to anion response time, dynamic measurement range, and reproducibility, are discussed.
Thin plasticized polymer films, poly(vinyl chloride) doped with a specific ion pairing quaternary ammonium compound, tridodecylmethylammonium chloride, and a lipophilic pH indicator, 3-hydroxy-4-(4-mtrophenylazo)phenyl octadeconate, are shown to exhibit significant and analytically useful optical response toward macromolecular heparin. The response mechanism is based on favorable Research Grant Support (1994).
A series of diaryl and alkylaryl sulfoxide-containing nitrogen mustards were synthesized and evaluated for their hypoxia-selective cytotoxicity against V-79 cells in vitro as well as for their metabolism profiles with the rat S-9 fractions. In general, the diaryl sulfoxides (4, 5, and 7-9) showed much greater hypoxia selectivity (11-27-fold) than the alkylaryl sulfoxides (approximately 3-fold) (1 and 3). The fused diphenyl sulfoxides (10 and 11), on the other hand, showed very low hypoxia selectivity (1.3-3-fold). Compound 10 was highly cytotoxic under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, while 11 showed low cytotoxicity under both conditions. The bioreduction of 8 by the rat S-9 fraction under anaerobic conditions was inhibited by menadione and enhanced by benzaldehyde, acetaldehyde, or 2-hydroxypyrimidine suggesting the involvement of aldehyde oxidase in the reduction of the sulfoxides. Bioreductive metabolism studies of selected model sulfoxides suggested that diaryl sulfoxides are better substrates for aldehyde oxidase than alkylaryl sulfoxides.
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