Sawhorse-type ruthenium complexes with triazolopyrimidine ligands - what do they represent in terms of cytotoxic and CORM compounds?

Three sawhorse-type ruthenium(I) complexes containing purine analogs such as triazolopyrimidines of the general formula [Ru(CO)(μ-OOCCH)(L)], where L is 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-]pyrimidine (tp for 1), 5,7-ditertbutyl-1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-]pyrimidine (dbtp for 2) and 5,7-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-]pyrimidine (dptp for 3), have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, infrared analysis, multinuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic techniques (H, C, N), and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (for 1 and 2). By assay with myoglobin, the photo-activated CO-releasing molecule (PhotoCORM) character of (1-3) has been confirmed, thus indicating the possibility of use in CO-based therapies. The importance of UV-induced modification has been investigated in the context of anticancer properties. Complexes (1) and (2) have been thoroughly screened for their cytotoxicity against various cancer cell lines: MCF-7 (breast cancer), HeLa (cervical cancer) and C32 (melanoma), as well as L929 normal fibroblasts in the dark and presence of UV-A light (365 nm). The results were compared with those for cisplatin and two reference ruthenium complexes, namely NAMI-A and KP1019. The most hydrophilic [Ru(CO)(μ-OOCCH)(tp)] (1) (log  = -1.12) was found to be more cytotoxic than (2), despite the lower cellular uptake measured by ICP-MS toward HeLa cells. Importantly, photo-induced stimulation of cells with (1) resulted in a lower decrease in the viability of L929 normal cells (IC = 154.7 ± 6.5 μM) in comparison with HeLa cancer cells (IC = 66.7 ± 3.4 μM). The photo-induced stimulation of (1) and (2) increases ROS generation, and their anticancer activity may be a partially ROS-dependent phenomenon.