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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
Bioactive ruthenium(II)-arene complexes containing modified 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid ligands
Yaqiong Kong1, Feng Chen2, Zhi Su1
1Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210046, China.
Abstract:
Metal-arene complexes containing bioactive natural-product derived ligands can have new and unusual properties. We report the synthesis, characterization and antiproliferative activity of two new Ru(II) arene complexes with imidazole (dichlorido complex 1) or bipyridyl (chlorido complex 2) ligands conjugated to 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid, an active triterpenoid metabolite of Glycyrrhiza glabra. In general, the conjugated ligands and complexes showed only moderate activity against HeLa (cervical), MCF-7 (breast) and A2780 (ovarian) cancer cells, although the activity of complex 2 in the former two cell lines approached that of the drug cisplatin. Complex 2 (in contrast to complex 1) also exhibited significant activity towards both Gram-positive S. aureus and Gram-negative E. coil bacteria. Complex 2 can induce condensation of DNA and enhances the generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). The conjugation of natural products to ligands in organometallic half-sandwich complexes provides a strategy to enhance their biological activities.
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