Bioorganometallic Chemistry – Synthesis and Antitumor Activity of Cobalt Carbonyl Complexes

Abstract

The interaction of organometallic compounds with biological systems, generally called bioorganometallic chemistry, is receiving increasing interest. We present the first part of our studies concerning the biological activity of organometallic compounds. Several alkyne-cobalt carbonyl complexes inhibited the growth of human melanoma and lung carcinoma cell lines. They are more active than uncomplexed dicobalt octacarbonyl, cobalt chloride, or the free ligand. A significant difference in potency towards the lung carcinoma cell line was observed among the cobalt complexes, indicating that the complexed ligand may influence cytotoxic activity. These results suggest that further exploratory work with such cobalt-alkyne complexes is warranted.

Non Platinum Metal Complexes as Anti‐cancer Drugs

“…Interestingly, the effects were most marked in human breast cancer cells [24,34,35]. This was also the fact in experiments on human tumour xenografts using a clonogenic assay which has been found to have a high predictive value for further in vivo evaluation [36].…”

“…The most active compound of the investigated series was the hexacarbonyldicobalt complex of the propargylic ester of acetylsalicylic acid (Co-ASS, see Fig. 4) [34].…”

Synthesis, Cytotoxicity, and COMPARE Analysis of Ferrocene and [3]Ferrocenophane Tetrasubstituted Olefin Derivatives against Human Cancer Cells

“…[12] These therapeutic bioconjugates include steroidal [13][14][15] and nonsteroidal [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] endocrine modulators, natural products, [24][25][26][27] and others. [28][29][30][31][32][33][34] In these cases, the often covalently grafted organometallic unit is usually inert to ligand substitution, but potentiates the activity of the biomolecule via modification of the pharmacokinetic profile or acts as a structural mimic. [35] A variety of other compounds are between these two classes, possessing labile biomolecule ligands, such as nucleobases.…”

A Cobaltocenium–Peptide Bioconjugate Shows Enhanced Cellular Uptake and Directed Nuclear Delivery

“…[4] Ferrocifen, a ferrocene derivative of the drug tamoxifen shows activity even on hormone-independent cell lines for which tamoxifen is inactive. [5,6] Further examples include {Ru(arene)} complexes, [7] several {Co(CO) 2 (alkyne)} derivatives [8][9][10][11] in addition to the well-studied titanocene dichloride which has been in clinical trials. [12][13][14][15] DNA interaction has been suggested as the mode of action, at least for some of the organometallic antitumor agents.…”