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Updated: Oct 19, 2025
The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
Biological Investigations of Ru(II) Complexes With Diverse β-diketone Ligands
Raphael T Ryan1, Dmytro Havrylyuk1, Kimberly C Stevens1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, 505 Rose Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40506, USA.
Abstract:
The β-diketone scaffold is a commonly used synthetic intermediate, and is a functional group found in natural products such as curcuminoids. This core structure can also act as a chelating ligand for a variety of metals. In order to assess the potential of this scaffold for medicinal inorganic chemistry, seven different κ2-O,O'-chelating ligands were used to construct Ru(II) complexes with polypyridyl co-ligands, and their biological activity was evaluated. The complexes demonstrated promising structure-dependent cytotoxicity. Three complexes maintained high activity in a tumor spheroid model, and all complexes demonstrated low in vivo toxicity in a zebrafish model. From this series, the best compound exhibited a ~ 30-fold window between cytotoxicity in a 3-D tumor spheroid model and potential in vivo toxicity. These results suggest that κ2-O,O'-ligands can be incorporated into Ru(II)-polypyridyl complexes to create favorable candidates for future drug development.
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