Exposing "Bright" Metals: Promising Advances in Photoactivated Anticancer Transition Metal Complexes.

Background: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an increasingly prominent field in anticancer research. PDT agents are typically nontoxic in the absence of light and can be stimulated with nonionising irradiation to "activate" their cytotoxic effect. Photosensitzers are not classified as chemotherapy drugs although it is advantageous to control the toxicity of a drug through localised irradiation allowing for selective treatment.

A Fluorine-18 Radiolabeling Method Enabled by Rhenium(I) Complexation Circumvents the Requirement of Anhydrous Conditions.

Azeotropic distillation is typically required to achieve fluorine-18 radiolabeling during the production of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agents. However, this time-consuming process also limits fluorine-18 incorporation, due to radioactive decay of the isotope and its adsorption to the drying vessel. In addressing these limitations, the fluorine-18 radiolabeling of one model rhenium(I) complex is reported here, which is significantly improved under conditions that do not require azeotropic drying.

Cytotoxicity of a Series of Norcantharidin-Inspired Tetrahydroepoxyisoindole Carboxamides.

A series of 28 norcantharidin (NorC)-inspired analogues were accessed via a robust two-step Ugi intramolecular Diels-Alder (IMDA) sequence. Four analogues displayed whole-cell cytotoxicity equipotent to that of NorC and cisplatin against a number of cancer cell lines and a normal breast cell line (MCF10A). Notably, (3S,3aS,6R)-2-benzyl-7-methyl-N-(naphthalen-2-yl)-1-oxo-1,2,3,6-tetrahydro-3a,6-epoxyisoindole-3-carboxamide (trans-27) displayed superior whole-cell activity against breast (MCF-7, GI =2.

Synthesis and analysis of the anticancer activity of platinum(II) complexes incorporating dipyridoquinoxaline variants.

Eight platinum(II) complexes with anticancer potential have been synthesised and characterised. These complexes are of the type [Pt(I(L))(A(L))](2+), where I(L) is either dipyrido[3,2-f:2',3'-h]quinoxaline (dpq) or 2,3-dimethyl-dpq (23Me2dpq) and A(L) is one of the R,R or S,S isomers of either 1,2-diaminocyclohexane (SS-dach or RR-dach) or 1,2-diaminocyclopentane (SS-dacp or RR-dacp). The CT-DNA binding of these complexes and a series of other complexes were assessed using fluorescent intercalator displacement assays, resulting in unexpected trends in DNA binding affinity.