(Metallo)porphyrins as potent phototoxic anti-cancer agents after irradiation with red light.

Novel photoactive (metallo)porphyrins were synthesised and characterised. When irradiated with light at a wavelength greater than 600 nm, these porphyrins act as photosensitisers and show high cytotoxicity towards two different human cancer cell lines with IC50 values down to 0.4 μM.

Can copper(II) mediate Hoogsteen base-pairing in a left-handed DNA duplex? A pulse EPR study.

Pulse EPR spectroscopy is used to investigate possible structural features of the copper(II) ion coordinated to poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC) in a frozen aqueous solution, and the structural changes of the polynucleotide induced by the presence of the metal ion. Two different copper species were identified and their geometry explained by a molecular model.

To be dinuclear or not: Z-DNA induction by nickel complexes.

The left-handed Z-DNA has been identified as a gene regulating element. Therefore the generation of Z-DNA through metal complexes might be an innovative way for the regulation of gene expression. Use of the new dinuclear complex N,N,N',N'-tetrakis-[2-(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)ethyl]-1,3-propylenediamine-bis(nickel(II) dinitrate) (2) reversibly induced Z-DNA formation.