Novel Unsymmetrical Ru(III) and Mixed-valence Ru(III)/Ru(II) Dinuclear Compounds Related to the Antimetastatic Ru(III) Drug NAMI-A.

In this paper we report the stepwise preparation and the characterization of new unsymmetrical monoanionic Ru(III) dinuclear compounds, [NH(4)][{trans-RuCl(4)(Me(2)SO-S)}(mu-L){mer-RuCl(3)(Me(2)SO-S)(Me(2)SO-O)}] (L = pyz (1), pym (2)). By a similar synthetic approach we also prepared new mixed-valence Ru(III)/Ru(II) dinuclear compounds of formula [NH(4)][{trans-RuCl(4)(Me(2)SO-S)}(mu-pyz){cis,cis,cis-RuCl(2)(Me(2)SO-S)(2)(CO)}] (L = pyrazine (pyz, 3), pyrimidine (pym, 4)). Moreover, we describe the chemical behavior of compounds 1-4 in physiological solution, also after complete reduction (with ascorbic acid) to the corresponding Ru(II)/Ru(II) species.

Replacement of chlorides with dicarboxylate ligands in anticancer active Ru(II)-DMSO compounds: a new strategy that might lead to improved activity.

A series of new Ru(II)-DMSO complexes containing dicarboxylate ligands (dicarb), namely, oxalate (ox), malonate (mal), methylmalonate (mmal), dimethylmalonate (dmmal), and succinate (suc), have been synthesized and structurally characterized. These compounds were prepared from the known Ru(II)-Cl-DMSO anticancer complexes cis,fac-[RuCl2(DMSO-S)3(DMSO-O)] (1) and trans-[RuCl2(DMSO-S)4] (2) and from the chloride-free precursor fac-[Ru(DMSO-S)3(DMSO-O)3][CF3SO3]2 (3), with the aim of assessing how the nature of the anionic ligands influences the biological activity of these species. Basically, the investigated ligands can be divided into two groups.

The unprecedented bridging coordination mode of 1,1-cyclobutane dicarboxylate (mu-cbdc-O,O') stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bonds in ruthenium(II) complexes.

The 1,1-cyclobutane dicarboxylate ligand (cbdc), that normally binds to metal centres as a chelate (eta(2)-cbdc-O,O'), prefers to bind in an unprecedented bridging fashion (micro-cbdc-O,O') on cationic Ru(ii) centres bearing ancillary ligands (e.g. H(2)O, NH(3)) capable of making intramolecular H-bonds with the non-coordinated oxygen atoms of the carboxylate groups.

Free exchange across cells, and echistatin-sensitive membrane target for the metastasis inhibitor NAMI-A (imidazolium trans-imidazole dimethyl sulfoxide tetrachlororuthenate) on KB tumor cells.

The duration of cell proadhesive effects induced by imidazolium trans-imidazole dimethyl sulfoxide tetrachlororuthenate (NAMI-A), a compound endowed with in vivo antimetastatic properties, was tested in vitro on the human epithelial tumor cell line KB. The intensity of proadhesive effects continues to increase up to 48 to 72 h after NAMI-A withdrawal and declines only after 96 h. The proadhesive effect on cells seeded on fibronectin is greater than on plastic, since it already reaches its maximum after 24 h.

Solution, solid state and biological characterization of ruthenium(III)-DMSO complexes with purine base derivatives.

Two new complexes of Ru(III) with purine base derivatives, [mer-RuCl(3)(acv)(DMSO-S)(C(2)H(5)OH)].C(2)H(5)OH (1) (acv=acyclovir, DMSO=dimethyl sulfoxide) and [trans-RuCl(4)(guaH)(DMSO-S)].2H(2)O (2) (guaH=protonated molecule of guanine), were prepared from the same Ru(III) precursor, [trans-RuCl(4)(DMSO-S)(2)](-), by substitution of one DMSO-S.