Reactivity of Ni, Pd and Pt complexes bearing phosphine ligands towards Zn displacement and hydrolysis in CisHis and CisHis zinc-fingers domains.

A systematic study of the effect of phosphine and bis-phosphine ligands in the interaction of Ni, Pd, and Pt complexes with two classes of zinc fingers was performed. The CysHis, finger 3 of specific protein-1, and the CysHisCys C-terminal zinc finger of nucleocapsid protein 7 of the HIV-1 were used as models of the respective class. In general, phosphine ligands favor the metal binding to the peptide, although the bis-phosphine ligands produce more specific binding than the monodentate.