Synthesis, characterization and in vitro biological studies of titanocene(IV) derivatives containing different carboxylato ligands

Titanium-45 (45Ti) Radiochemistry and Applications in Molecular Imaging

Molecular imaging is an important part of modern medicine which enables the non-invasive identification and characterization of diseases. With the advancement of radiochemistry and scanner technology, nuclear medicine is providing insight into efficient treatment options for individual patients. Titanium-45 (45Ti) is a lesser-explored radionuclide that is garnering increasing interest for the development of positron emission tomography (PET) radiopharmaceuticals. This review discusses aspects of this radionuclide including production, purification, radiochemistry development, and molecular imaging studies.

New Titanocene (IV) Dicarboxylates with Potential Cytotoxicity: Synthesis, Structure, Stability and Electrochemistry

The search for new anticancer drugs based on biogenic metals, which have weaker side effects compared to platinum-based drugs, remains an urgent task in medicinal chemistry. Titanocene dichloride, a coordination compound of fully biocompatible titanium, has failed in pre-clinical trials but continues to attract the attention of researchers as a structural framework for the development of new cytotoxic compounds. In this study, a series of titanocene (IV) carboxylate complexes, both new and those known from the literature, was synthesized, and their structures were confirmed by a complex of physicochemical methods and X-ray diffraction analysis (including one previously unknown structure based on perfluorinated benzoic acid). The comprehensive comparison of three approaches for the synthesis of titanocene derivatives known from the literature (the nucleophilic substitution of chloride anions of titanocene dichloride with sodium and silver salts of carboxylic acids as well as the reaction of dimethyltitanocene with carboxylic acids themselves) made it possible to optimize these methods to obtain higher yields of individual target compounds, generalize the advantages and disadvantages of these techniques, and determine the substrate frames of each method. The redox potentials of all obtained titanocene derivatives were determined by cyclic voltammetry. The relationship between the structure of ligands, the reduction potentials of titanocene (IV), and their relative stability in redox processes, as obtained in this work, can be used for the design and synthesis of new effective cytotoxic titanocene complexes. The study of the stability of the carboxylate-containing derivatives of titanocene obtained in the work in aqueous media showed that they were more resistant to hydrolysis than titanocene dichloride. Preliminary tests of the cytotoxicity of the synthesised titanocene dicarboxilates on MCF7 and MCF7-10A cell lines demonstrated an IC50 ≥ 100 μM for all the obtained compounds.

Synthesis, characterization and in vitro biological evaluation of novel organotin(IV) compounds with derivatives of 2-(5-arylidene-2,4-dioxothiazolidin-3-yl)propanoic acid

Two novel triphenyltin(IV) compounds, [Ph₃SnL1] (L1 = 2-(5-(4-fluorobenzylidene)-2,4-dioxotetrahydrothiazole-3-yl)propanoate (1)) and [Ph₃SnL2] (L2 = 2-(5-(5-methyl-2-furfurylidene)-2,4-dioxotetrahydrothiazole-3-yl)propanoate (2)) were synthesized and characterized by FT-IR, (¹H and ¹³C) NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and elemental microanalysis. The in vitro anticancer activity of the synthesized organotin(IV) compounds was determined against four tumor cell lines: PC-3 (prostate), HT-29 (colon), MCF-7 (breast), and HepG2 (hepatic) using MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-12 diphenyltetrazolium bromide) and CV (crystal violet) assays. The IC₅₀ values are found to be in the range from 0.11 to 0.50 μM. Compound 1 exhibits the highest activity toward PC-3 cells (IC₅₀ = 0.115 ± 0.009 μM; CV assay). The tin and platinum uptake in PC-3 cells showed a threefold lower uptake of tin in comparison to platinum (as cisplatin). Together with its higher activity this indicates a much higher cell inhibition potential of the tin compounds (calculated to ca. 50 to 100 times). Morphological analysis suggested that the compounds induce apoptosis in PC-3 cells, and flow cytometry analysis revealed that 1 and 2 induce autophagy as well as NO (nitric oxide) production.

1,4-Benzodioxane, an evergreen, versatile scaffold in medicinal chemistry: A review of its recent applications in drug design

1,4-Benzodioxane has long been a versatile template widely employed to design molecules endowed with diverse bioactivities. Its use spans the last decades of medicinal chemistry until today concerning many strategies of drug discovery, not excluding the most advanced ones. Here, more than fifty benzodioxane-related lead compounds, selected from recent literature, are presented showing the different approaches with which they have been developed. Agonists and antagonists at neuronal nicotinic, α₁ adrenergic and serotoninergic receptor subtypes and antitumor and antibacterial agents form the most representative classes, but a variety of other biological targets are addressed by benzodioxane-containing compounds.

De novodesign of thioredoxin reductase-targeted heterometallic titanocene–gold compounds of chlorambucil for mechanistic insights into renal cancer

A chlorambucil-alkynyl mononuclear gold(i) complex and heteronuclear titanocene–gold(i) complex were studied for mechanism of action in renal cancer by experimental and computational methods.

Anti-cancer applications of titanocene-functionalised nanostructured systems: an insight into cell death mechanisms

A series of alkenyl-substituted titanocene compounds have been supported on the mesoporous silica-based material KIT-6. The corresponding functionalised materials were completely characterised by different techniques (solid-state multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, X-ray fluorescence and diffraction, SEM and TEM) to observe the incorporation of the titanocene derivatives on the external surface of the material KIT-6. Both the titanocene compounds and the materials were tested in vitro against a wide variety of human cancer and normal cell lines. A very high cytotoxicity of the synthesised titanocene derivatives (IC50 values in the range of those described in the literature for the most active cytotoxic titanocene compounds), with selectivity towards cancer cell lines was observed. The cytotoxic activity of the materials is the highest reported to date for titanocene-functionalised materials. In addition, higher Ti uptake (from 4 to 23% of the initial amount of Ti) of the cells treated with materials was observed with respect to those treated with "free" titanocene derivatives (which gave Ti uptake values from 0.4 to 4.6% of the initial amount of Ti). Additional experiments with the titanocene derivatives and the functionalised materials revealed that changes to the morphological and functional dynamics of apoptosis occurred when the active titanocene species were incorporated into mesoporous materials. In addition, the materials could induce programmed cell death in tumour cell populations by impairing the damaged DNA repair mechanisms and by upregulation of intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic signalling pathways.