STUDY ON POSSIBLE IMPACTS ON ANTICANCER AND ANTITUBERCULAR ACTIVITY OF Ru(II)-8-HYDROXYQUINOLINE COMPLEXES AND DERIVATIVES

• Grant number: 25/06317-3
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Inorganic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Alzir Azevedo Batista
• Grantee: Alzir Azevedo Batista
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: São Carlos
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/21845-6 - Biological experiments (cytotoxicity and mechanism of action) of Ru(II)-8-hydroxyquinoline complexes and derivatives in cancer and noncancerous cells, BP.TT

Abstract

Bioinorganics, together with medicinal chemistry, has contributed to the search for new potential anticancer metallodrugs, with the development of potential therapeutic agents. In this context, many researchers have dedicated themselves to the synthesis of coordination compounds with medicinal applications, or modeling existing ones to reduce their side effects. Among those currently described in the literature, ruthenium compounds stand out, which have shown positive results regarding anticancer and antimetastatic activity. Thus, the present project aims at the synthesis and characterization of some of the ruthenium(II) complexes, with formulas:[Ru(N-O)(dppe)(bipy)]PF6, [Ru(N-O)(dppb)(bipy)]PF6, [Ru(N-O)(dppb)(4,4'-di-tert-butyl-bipy)], [Ru(N-O)(DPEPhos)(bipy)]PF6, [Ru(N-O)(DPEPhos)(4,4'-di-tert-butyl-bipy)PF6, where L = 8-hydroxyquinoline or derivatives, bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, dppe = 1,2'-bis(diphenylphosphine)ethane, 1-4-bis(diphenylphosphine)butane and DPEPhos = bis[2-(diphenylphosphine)phenyl]ether. The synthesized compounds will be characterized by elemental analysis, conductivity, infrared and ultraviolet/visible absorption spectroscopy, cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry, 31P{1H}, 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance and X-ray diffraction, when possible. The new synthesized complexes will also be evaluated for their cytotoxic activities in prostate (DU-145), lung (A549), breast (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) and non-tumor breast (MCF-10A) cancer cell lines, and those that present the best results will be subjected to new biological studies. The results, through chemical and biological data, will provide support for formulating a possible mechanism of action for the complexes, where the influence of phosphines in the complexes will be better evaluated for the increase in cytotoxicity, in relation to complexes that do not contain them. In vivo experiments with mice may be performed with the most active compounds. (AU)