Coordination of copperpolyamine complex with imidazoles potentiates it superoxide dismutase mimicking activity and...

Mixed ligand complexes of copper polyamine with biomolecules such as imidazole, substituted imidazoles or pyridine have been synthesized and characterized. These molecules were used because of their low toxicity and high activity. These complexes were found to possess a distorted octahedral microenvironment with a potential SOD mimicking activity. The IC50 values for these complexes were of the order of 2-90 microM. Pyridine and imidazole complexes were most effective as they possess the lowest IC50 values of 2.1 and 6 microM respectively which are higher than the IC50 value of polyamine copper complex. Based on the uric acid estimations, it has also been ascertained that these complexes dismute O2- without inhibiting xanthine oxidase activity. The presence of increasing concentrations of albumin had no effect on the SOD mimicking activity of mixed ligand complexes. Polyamine complex, however lost approximately 80% of SOD mimicking activity in the presence of albumin (1 mg). These results suggest that coordination of polyamine copper complex with imidazoles/pyridine may abolish their binding affinity for albumin while potentiating their SOD mimicking activity.