Book of Abstracts - Ruhr-Universität Bochum

P-32
ISBOMC `10 5.7 – 9.7. 2010 Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Organometallic Iridium Anticancer Complexes
Zhe Liu, Abraha Habtemariam, Ana Pizarri, Sally Fletcher, Guy Clarkson and Peter J. Sadler
Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K.
E-mail: Z.Liu.2@warwick.ac.uk
Cisplatin has been used to treat various types of cancers for over 30 years, however, a number of
serious side-effects of cisplatin have stimulated the long quest for other metal-based anticancer agents,
especially drugs which possess a wider range of anticancer activity and with fewer side effects than
cisplatin. There is much current interest in the design of ruthenium 1 and osmium 2 complexes as
anticancer agents, but only a small amount of work has been done to investigate the antitumour
activity of iridium complexes. 3
Here we report the synthesis and characterization of a wide range of Ir(III) cyclopentadienyl
complexes. We have studied their solid state structures, hydrolysis rates, reactivity towards
nucleobases and acidity of aqua complexes. Their cell uptake and distribution and toxicity towards
cancer cells have been studied and correlated with their chemical properties. Both the chemical and
biological activity of these complexes show a strong dependence on the nature of the substituents on
the cyclopentadienyl and the other ligands in the complexes.
Acknowledgements: We thank WPRS (scholarship for Z.L), ERC (award for P.J.S.), EDRF and
AWM for Science City funding, and members of COST Action D39 for stimulating discussions.
References
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