Studies on Photocleavage, DNA Binding, Cytotoxicity, and Docking Studies of Ruthenium(II) Mixed Ligand Complexes.

This article describes the synthesis and characterization of three new Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes including [Ru(phen)2(dpphz)]2+ (1), [Ru(bpy)2(dpphz)]2+ (2) and [Ru(dmb)2(dpphz)]2+ (3) where dpphz = dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c] phenazine-11-hydrazide, phen =1,10-phenanthroline, bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine and dmb = 4,4'-dimethyl2,2'-bipyridine. The binding behaviors of these complexes to calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) were explored by spectroscopic titrations, viscosity measurements. Results suggest that these complexes can bind to CT-DNA through intercalation. However, their binding strength differs from each other; this may be attributed to difference in the ancillary ligand. The cytotoxicity of 1-3 was evaluated by MTT assay; results indicated that all complexes have significant dose dependent cytotoxicity with HeLa tumor cell line. All complexes exhibited efficient photocleavage of pBR322 DNA upon irradiation. The DNA binding ability of 1-3 was also studied by docking the complexes into B-DNA using docking program.

Design, synthesis, DNA-binding affinity, cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest of Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes.

A novel polypyridyl ligand CNPFIP (CNPFIP=2-(5(4-chloro-2-nitrophenyl)furan-2-yl)-1H-imidazo[4,5f][1,10]phenanthroline) and its mononuclear Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes of [Ru(phen)2CNPFIP](2+)(1) (phen=1,10-phenanthroline), [Ru(bpy)2CNPFIP](2+)(2) (bpy=2,2'-bipyridine), and [Ru(dmb)2CNPFIP](2+)(3) (dmb=4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine) have been synthesized successfully and characterized thoroughly by elemental analysis, UV/Vis, IR, NMR, and ESI-MS. The interaction of the Ru(II) complexes with calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) was investigated by absorption titration, fluorescence, viscosity measurements. The experimental results suggest that three complexes bind to CT-DNA through an intercalative mode and the DNA-binding affinity of complex 1 is greater than that of complexes 2 and 3. The photocleavage of plasmid pBR322 DNA by ruthenium complexes 1, 2, and 3 was investigated. We have also tested three complexes for their antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) bacteria. The in vitro cytotoxicity of these complexes was evaluated by MTT assay, and complex 1 shows higher cytotoxicity than 2 and 3 on HeLa cells. The induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest of HeLa cells were investigated by flow cytometry for 24h. The molecular docking of ruthenium complexes 1, 2, and 3 with the active site pocket residues of human DNA TOP1 was performed using LibDock.