Octahedral molybdenum and tungsten clusters have potential biological applications in photodynamic therapy and bioimaging. However, poor solubility and hydrolysis stability of these compounds hinder their application. The first water-soluble photoluminescent octahedral tungsten cluster [{W I }(DMSO) ](NO ) was synthesised and demonstrated to be at least one order of magnitude more stable towards hydrolysis than its molybdenum analogue. Biological studies of the compound on larynx carcinoma cells suggest that it has a significant photoinduced toxicity, while the dark toxicity increases with the increase of the degree of hydrolysis. The increase of the dark toxicity is associated with the in situ generation of nanoparticles that clog up the cisternae of rough endoplasmic reticulum.

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An octahedral molybdenum cluster complex exhibits relevant features as a singlet oxygen radiosenstizer for X-ray induced photodynamic therapy.

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New hexarhenium clusters exhibit radio- and photoluminescence, have low cytotoxicity, are capable of penetrating into cells and exhibit photodynamic toxicity.

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Octahedral rhenium cluster complexes have recently emerged as relevant building blocks for the design of singlet oxygen photosensitizing materials toward biological applications such as blue-light photodynamic therapy. However, their singlet oxygen generation ability as well as biological properties have been studied only superficially. Herein we investigate in detail the singlet oxygen photogeneration, dark and photoinduced cytotoxicity, cellular uptake kinetics, cellular localization and in vitro photoinduced oxidative stress, and photodynamic cytotoxicity of the series of octahedral rhenium cluster complexes [{ReQ}(CN)], where Q = S, Se, Te. Our results demonstrate that the selenium-containing complex possesses optimal properties in terms of absorption and singlet oxygen productivity. These features coupled with the cellular internalization and low dark toxicity lead to the first photoinduced cytotoxic effect observed for a molecular [{MQ}L] complex, making it a promising object for further study in terms of blue-light PDT.

Metastasis is one of the leading causes of the recurrence and high mortality of cancer. According to a recent hierarchical model of tumour formation, cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible...