A Platinum-Aluminum Bimetallic Salen Complex for Pro-senescence Cancer Therapy.

Cell senescence is defined as irreversible cell cycle arrest, which can be triggered by telomere shortening or by various types of genotoxic stress. Induction of senescence is emerging as a new strategy for the treatment of cancer, especially when sequentially combined with a second senolytic drug capable of killing the resulting senescent cells, however severely suffering from the undesired off-target side effects from the senolytic drugs. Here, we prepare a bimetalic platinum-aluminum salen complex (Alumiplatin) for cancer therapy-a combination of pro-senesence chemotherapy with in situ senotherapy to avoid the side effects.

A Gallium(III) Complex that Engages Protein Disulfide Isomerase A3 (PDIA3) as an Anticancer Target.

Gallium(III)-based drugs have gained momentum in cancer therapy due to their iron-dependent anticancer activity. Judicious choice of ligands is critical for improved oral bioavailability, antitumor efficacy, and distinct mechanisms from simple Ga salts. We describe Ga complexes with planar tetradentate salen ligands [salen=2,3-bis[(4-dialkylamino-2-hydroxybenzylidene)amino]but-2-enedinitrile)] and labile axial solvent ligands, which display tumor growth inhibition in vitro and in vivo comparable to cisplatin.

Strong Fluorescent Lanthanide Salen Complexes: Photophysical Properties, Excited-State Dynamics, and Bioimaging.

The synthesis, excited-state dynamics, and biological application of luminescent lanthanide salen complexes (Ln = Lu, Gd, Eu, Yb, salen = N, N'-bis(salicylidene)ethylenediamine-based ligands) with sandwich structures are described. Among them, Lu(III) complexes show unusually strong ligand-centered fluorescence with quantum yields up to 62%, although the metal center is close to a chromophore ligand. The excited-state dynamic studies including ultrafast spectroscopy for Ln-salen complexes revealed that their excited states are solely dependent on the salen ligands and the ISC rates are slow (10-10 s).

A luminescent aluminium salen complex allows for monitoring dynamic vesicle trafficking from the Golgi apparatus to lysosomes in living cells.

The Golgi apparatus is well-known as the center of vesicle trafficking whose malfunction might cause the breakdown of overall cellular architecture and ultimately cell death. The development of fluorescent probes to not only precisely stain the Golgi apparatus but also monitor dynamic vesicle trafficking is of great significance. While fluorescent proteins and fluorescent lipid analogs have been reported, they are sometime limited by either overexpression and toxicity or lack of high selectivity, respectively.

A simple and non-amplification platform for femtomolar DNA and microRNA detection by combining automatic gold nanoparticle enumeration with target-induced strand-displacement.

By combining the gold nanoparticle (AuNP) enumeration with target-induced strand-displacement reaction, we have developed a non-amplification platform for DNA and miRNA detection based on a deliberately designed sandwich-structured nanocomplex probe (SNC Probe). The proposed strategy can realize the sensitive detection of nucleic acids within 40min with the detection limit of 6.6 fM for HBV DNA and 13.

Multiplexed Detection of Attomoles of Nucleic Acids Using Fluorescent Nanoparticle Counting Platform.

The sensitive multiplexed detection of nucleic acids in a single sample by a simple manner is of pivotal importance for the diagnosis and therapy of human diseases. Herein, we constructed an automatic fluorescent nanoparticle (FNP) counting platform with a common fluorescence microscopic imaging setup for nonamplification multiplexed detection of attomoles of nucleic acids. Taking the advantages of the highly bright, multicolor emitting FNPs and magnetic separation, the platform enables sensitive multiplexed detection without the need for extra fluorescent labels.

Precise Labeling and Tracking of Lipid Droplets in Adipocytes Using a Luminescent ZnSalen Complex.

Designing two-photon probes for precise labeling of lipid droplets (LDs) and monitoring LD dynamics in adipocytes is of great significance to understand LD homeostasis. We herein report that a luminescent metal complex LD-TPZn can specifically image LDs in adipose cells and tissue using one- or two-photon fluorescence microscopy. Importantly, LD-TPZn exhibited higher specificity to LDs than the commercial dyes Nile Red and Bodipy 493/503, probably due to different cellular uptake pathways, that is, clathrin-mediated endocytosis and non-selectively passive diffusion, respectively.

A photoactivatable Znsalen complex for super-resolution imaging of mitochondria in living cells.

We herein report the first example that uses a first-row transition metal complex, Znsalen J-S-Alk, as a photoactivatable probe for super-resolution imaging of mitochondria with a localization precision of ca. 12 nm in living cells.

Gadolinium(III) Porpholactones as Efficient and Robust Singlet Oxygen Photosensitizers.

Construction of Gd(III) photosensitizers is important for designing theranostic agents owing to the unique properties arising from seven unpaired f electrons of the Gd(3+) ion. Combining these with the advantages of porpholactones with tunable NIR absorption, we herein report the synthesis of Gd(III) complexes Gd-1-4 (1, porphyrin; 2, porpholactone; 3 and 4, cis- and trans-porphodilactone, respectively) and investigated their function as singlet oxygen ((1) O2 ) photosensitizers. These Gd complexes displayed (1) O2 quantum yields (ΦΔ s) from 0.

Cationic sulfonium functionalization renders Znsalens with high fluorescence, good water solubility and tunable cell-permeability.

In this study, we report for the first time that incorporation of cationic sulfonium to the Znsalens skeleton achieves water soluble fluorescent metal complex probes for living cell imaging. To circumvent Znsalen aggregation arising from intermolecular ZnO interactions (found between Zn and the phenoxyl group of another Znsalen molecule), we synthesized a series of sulfonium Znsalens based on alkylation of the 3-thioether or 3,5-dithioether moieties of salicylaldehydes. Such functionalization not only provides positive charge(s) to enhance electrostatic repulsion, but also increases steric hindrance, which renders the Znsalen complex water soluble as a monomeric species in aqueous media as revealed by diffusion ordered NMR spectroscopy (DOSY).