Polypyridyl Ruthenium(II) Complexes with Red‐Shifted Absorption: New Promises in Photodynamic Therapy

Abstract

In the field of cancer photodynamic therapy (PDT) research, development of metal-based PDT drugs that can be used under red light exposure is the "holy grail" to achieve. This highlight highlighted few current literatures on polypyridyl-based Ru(II) complexes with significantly red-shifted absorption to achieve in-vitro and in-vivo PDT effect in 540-600 nm light. The enormous potential of judicial ligand choice and in-silico optimization to achieve the red light, metal-based PDT drugs are discussed.

More-Is-Better Strategy for Constructing Homoligand Polypyridyl Ruthenium Complexes as Photosensitizers for Infrared Two-Photon Photodynamic Therapy

“…The phototherapy indexes under 450 (PI-1) and 808 nm (PI-2) for Ru1 reached as high as >275 and > 390, respectively, indicating that it is an IR-excitable PS for antitumor PDT. Both PI-1 and PI-2 of HPRCs are significantly high among metal-containing PSs summarized in recent reviews (typically <100). ,,,− The phototoxicity of HPRCs [Ru­(dppz-X 2 ) 3 ] 2+ have been reported to decrease as their lipophilicity increases . Quite the contrary, for HPRCs in this work, a decrease in lipophilicity leads to an apparent reduction in phototoxicity.…”

Steric hindrance, ligand ejection and associated photocytotoxic properties of ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes

“…Polypyridyl ruthenium(II) compounds represent a highly promising family of photoactive complexes; they are stable under both dark and light conditions, exhibit strong light absorption and efficiently mediate the generation of singlet dioxygen [1,31]. For instance, the ruthenium(II) complex TLD-1433 has a remarkably high quantum yield of 1 O 2 production and is therefore highly photocytotoxic toward cancer cells [32,33].…”

In vitro and in vivo antitumor activity of novel half-sandwich ruthenium complexes containing quinoline derivative ligands

“…[12][13][14][15][16] Ruthenium is a transition metal element that belongs to the eight main groups that can form octahedral complexes with various chelating ligands (including N^N, C^N, N^O, and N^S ligands). 17,18 The structures of these complexes are relatively flexible and adjustable. They are widely used in antibacterial, antitumor, and catalytic fields because of their excellent photophysical properties and catalytic properties.…”