Developing Anticancer Copper(II) Pro-drugs Based on the Nature of Cancer Cells and the Human Serum Albumin Carrier IIA Subdomain.

To synergistically enhance the selectivity and efficiency of anticancer copper drugs, we proposed and built a model to develop anticancer copper pro-drugs based on the nature of human serum albumin (HSA) IIA subdomain and cancer cells. Three copper(II) compounds of a 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde benzoyl hydrazone Schiff-base ligand in the presence pyridine, imidazole, or indazole ligands were synthesized (C1-C3). The structures of three HSA complexes revealed that the Cu compounds bind to the hydrophobic cavity in the HSA IIA subdomain.