The potential use of organoruthenium complexes as anticancer drugs is well known. Herein, a family of activatable tethered ruthenium(II) arene complexes of general formula [Ru{η6 :κ1 -C6 H5 (C6 H4 )NH2 }(XY)]n+ (closed tether ring) bearing different chelating XY ligands (XY=aliphatic diamine, phenylenediamine, oxalato, bis(phosphino)ethane) is reported. The activation of these complexes (closed- to open-tether conversion) occurs in methanol and DMSO at different rates and to different reaction extents at equilibrium. Most importantly, RuII -complex activation (cleavage of the Ru-Ntether bond) occurs in aqueous solution at high proton concentration (upon Ntether protonation). The activation dynamics can be modulated by rational variation of the XY chelating ligand. The electron-donating capability and steric hindrance of XY have a direct impact on the reactivity of the Ru-N bond, and XY=N,N'-dimethyl-, N,N'-diethyl-, and N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine afford complexes that are more prone to activation. Such activation in acidic media is fully reversible, and proton concentration also governs the deactivation rate, that is, tether-ring closure slows down with decreasing pH. Interaction of a closed-tether complex and its open-tether counterpart with 5'-guanosine monophosphate revealed selectivity of the active (open) complex towards interaction with nucleobases. This work presents ruthenium tether complexes as exceptional pH-dependent switches with potential applications in cancer research.
Keywords: arene ligands; bioinorganic chemistry; chelates; ruthenium; tethered ligands.
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