Applications of Ruthenium Complexes Covalently Linked to Nucleic Acid Derivatives

Abstract

Oligonucleotides are biopolymers that can be easily modified at various locations. Thereby, the attachment of metal complexes to nucleic acid derivatives has emerged as a common pathway to improve the understanding of biological processes or to steer oligonucleotides towards novel applications such as electron transfer or the construction of nanomaterials. Among the different metal complexes coupled to oligonucleotides, ruthenium complexes, have been extensively studied due to their remarkable properties. The resulting DNA-ruthenium bioconjugates have already demonstrated their potency in numerous applications. Consequently, this review focuses on the recent synthetic methods developed for the preparation of ruthenium complexes covalently linked to oligonucleotides. In addition, the usefulness of such conjugates will be highlighted and their applications from nanotechnologies to therapeutic purposes will be discussed.

Reduction Potential of RuIII-Based Complexes with Potential Antitumor Activity and Thermodynamics of their Hydrolysis Reactions and Interactions with Possible Biological Targets: a Theoretical Investigation

“…Other cytotoxic activities from NAMI-A and KP1019 may be attributed to their interactions with DNA nucleobases generally to the N7 site of guanine. 17,24 It is worth mentioning that interaction of ruthenium compounds with nucleic acid and derivatives generates compounds with chemical and photophysical properties with important applications in nanotechnologies, medical diagnosis and therapies, and have recently been reviewed by Flamme et al 69 Since our results suggested that both NAMI-A, KP1019 and their hydrolyzed products are very prone to be reduced, we evaluated the affinity of the NAMI-A and KP1019 for different intracellular components, though the calculation of the thermodynamics of the interaction of the reduced and mono-hydrated forms of NAMI-A and KP1019 with different S-donors (GSH and Cys) and N-donors (GN3 and GN7 sites) ligands.…”

Synthesis of Organometallic Oligonucleotides through Oximation with Metalated Benzaldehydes

“…Oligonucleotides functionalized with transition metal ions are studied intensively for potential applications in DNA nanotechnology 1−4 as well as diagnostics and chemotherapy. 5−8 Such structures are typically obtained through coordination of the desired metal ion to a high-affinity ligand within the oligonucleotide.…”

Emerging Molecular Receptors for the Specific-Target Delivery of Ruthenium and Gold Complexes into Cancer Cells

“…Although not reviewed in detail in this manuscript, biomolecules, such as amino acids, vitamins, and carbohydrates, are among the most common and broadly studied delivering agents of anticancer drugs into tumors [ 11 ]. There are numerous reports of bioconjugates containing ruthenium and gold complexes for targeted anticancer applications that have been reported and discussed elsewhere [ 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 ]. Herein, we selected a couple of examples for illustrative purposes (see Section 5.2 ).…”