The Role of the Second Coordination Sphere in the Biological Activity of Arene Ruthenium Metalla-Assemblies

Abstract

For nearly 15 years, the biological and biomedical applications of arene ruthenium metalla-assemblies have flourished. Today, the synthetic strategies to generate arene ruthenium assemblies are well-established, and these compounds offer tremendous possibilities in terms of structural diversities and chemical properties. However, the second coordination sphere is often poorly considered, if not ignored, when designing such arene ruthenium metalla-assemblies. These weak interactions (hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic, ionic, electrostatic, van der Waals, π-π stacking) that take place in the solid state or in solution are generally key interactions for the foreseen applications. Therefore, in this review, we want to emphasize this important property of arene ruthenium metalla-assemblies by showing examples dealing with second coordination sphere interactions and how this can be better integrated in the design of these versatile supramolecular metal-based entities.

Investigation of the Anticancer Activity of Coordination-Driven Self-AssembledTwo-Dimensional Ruthenium Metalla-Rectangle

“…Fascinatingly, 3 was observed to inhibit the proliferation of all the three cell lines, even at a very low concentration (Figure 4). This finding clearly established that metalla-rectangle 3 was profoundly more effective than cisplatin and ruthenium complex ( 1 ) in inhibiting the growth of different cancer cell lines and could be a potent candidate as a chemotherapeutic drug against cisplatin-resistant cancer cell lines [27,59,66,82,83]. Notably, the increase in drug concentration led to complete cell kills (Caki-1, Lovo).…”

Recent progress in the development of organometallics for the treatment of cancer

“…From a survey of recent literature, research encompassing the anticancer activity of organometallic compounds is flourishing and making significant progress [42][43][44][45]. Creative and novel strategies to enhance the efficacy and selectivity of small molecule organometallics show promise in animal models, with examples being well tolerated and doses well below maximum tolerated doses resulting in good antitumor activity.…”

Thermotropic Liquid-Crystalline Materials Based on Supramolecular Coordination Complexes

“…The multi-component arrangement is highly segregated, suggesting a multi-layered structure involving metalla-cycles, dodecyl sulfates, and the side-arms of the pyrenyl-functionalized dendrons. The host-guest chemistry of arene-ruthenium metalla-assemblies is well-established [38,39], and arene-ruthenium metalla-prisms and metalla-rectangles have been used to encapsulate pyrenyl-functionalized guests [40]. In the case of the pyrenyl-functionalized dendromesogenic guest encapsulated in a tetranuclear arene-ruthenium metalla-cycle (Figure 8), thermotropic liquid-crystalline properties were observed [41].…”