Accurate Computation of Aqueous pKas of Biologically Relevant Organic Acids: Overcoming the Challenges Posed by Multiple Conformers, Tautomeric Equilibria, and Disparate Functional Groups with the Fully Black-Box pK-Yay Method

The use of static electronic structure calculations to compute solution-phase pKas offers a great advantage in that a macroscopic bulk property could be computed via microscopic computations involving very few molecules. There are various sources of errors in the quantum chemical calculations though. Overcoming these errors to accurately compute pKas of a plethora of acids is an active area of research in physical chemistry pursued by both computational as well as experimental chemists. We recently developed the pK-Yay method in our attempt to accurately compute aqueous pKas of strong and weak acids. The method is fully black-box, computationally inexpensive, and is very easy for even a nonexpert to use. However, the method was thus far tested on very few molecules (only 16 in all). Herein, in order to assess the future applicability of pK-Yay, we study the effect of multiple conformers, the presence of tautomers under equilibrium, and the impact of a wide variety of functional groups (derivatives of acetic acid with substituents at various positions, dicarboxylic acids, aromatic carboxylic acids, amines and amides, phenols and thiols, and fluorine bearing organic acids). Starting with more than 1000 conformers and tautomers, this study establishes that overall errors of ∼ 1.0 pKa units are routinely obtained for a majority of the molecules. Larger errors are noted in cases where multiple charges, intramolecular hydrogen bonding, and several ionizable functional groups are simultaneously present. An important conclusion to emerge from this work is that, the computed pKas are insensitive (difference <0.5) to whether we consider multiple conformers/tautomers or only choose the most stable conformer/tautomer. Further, pK-Yay captures the stereoelectronic effects arising due to differing axial vs equatorial pattern, and is useful to predict the dominant acid-base equilibrium in a system featuring several equilibria. Overall, pK-Yay may be employed in several chemical applications featuring organic molecules and biomonomers.

Preclinical Anticancer Activity of an Electron-Deficient Organoruthenium(II) Complex

Ruthenium compounds have been shown to be promising alternatives to platinum(II) drugs. However, their clinical success depends on achieving mechanisms of action that overcome Pt-resistance mechanisms. Electron-deficient organoruthenium complexes are an understudied class of compounds that exhibit unusual reactivity in solution and might offer novel anticancer mechanisms of action. Here, we evaluate the in vitro and in vivo anticancer properties of the electron-deficient organoruthenium complex [(p-cymene)Ru(maleonitriledithiolate)]. This compound is found to be highly cytotoxic: 5 to 60 times more potent than cisplatin towards ovarian (A2780 and A2780cisR), colon (HCT116 p53+/+ and HCT116 p53-/-), and non-small cell lung H460 cancer cell lines. It shows no cross-resistance and is equally cytotoxic to both A2780 and A2780cisR cell lines. Furthermore, unlike cisplatin, the remarkable in vitro antiproliferative activity of this compound appears to be p53-independent. In vivo evaluation in the hollow-fibre assay across a panel of cancer cell types and subcutaneous H460 non-small cell lung cancer xenograft model hints at the activity of the complex. Although the impressive in vitro data are not fully corroborated by the in vivo follow-up, this work is the first preclinical study of electron-deficient half-sandwich complexes and highlights their promise as anticancer drug candidates.

Anticancer Activity of Electron-Deficient Metal Complexes against Colorectal Cancer in vitro Models

An evaluation of the in vitro cytotoxicity of nine electron-deficient half-sandwich metal complexes towards two colorectal cancer cell lines (HCT116 p53+/+, HCT116 p53-/-) and one normal prostate cell line (PNT2) is presented herein. Three complexes were found to be equally cytotoxic towards both colorectal cancer cell lines, suggesting a p53-independent mechanism of action. These complexes are 12 to 34× more potent than cisplatin against HCT116 p53+/+ and HCT116 p53-/- cells. Furthermore, they were found to exhibit little or no cytotoxicity towards PNT2 normal cells, with selectivity ratios greater than 50. To gain an insight into the potential mechanisms of action of the most active compounds, their effects on the expression levels of a panel of genes were measured using qRT-PCR against treated HCT116 p53+/+ and HCT116 p53-/- cells, and cell-cycle analysis was carried out.

Controlled Release of Carbon Monoxide from a Pseudo Electron-Deficient Organometallic Complex

A 16-electron iridium organometallic is reacted with carbon monoxide to form an 18-electron CO-adduct. This CO-adduct is stable for weeks in the solid state, but quickly reverts to its parent 16-e complex in tetrahydrofuran solution, releasing CO_(g). Using a simple methodology, we show that this gas can subsequently be used to perform a carbonylation reaction on another molecule.

New Class of Hybrid Materials for Detection, Capture, and "On-Demand" Release of Carbon Monoxide

Carbon monoxide (CO) is both a substance hazardous to health and a side product of a number of industrial processes, such as methanol steam reforming and large-scale oxidation reactions. The separation of CO from nitrogen (N₂) in industrial processes is considered to be difficult because of the similarities of their electronic structures, sizes, and physicochemical properties (e.g., boiling points). Carbon monoxide is also a major poison in fuel cells because of its adsorption onto the active sites of the catalysts. It is therefore of the utmost economic importance to discover new materials that enable effective CO capture and release under mild conditions. However, methods to specifically absorb and easily release CO in the presence of contaminants, such as water, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen, at ambient temperature are not available. Here, we report the simple and versatile fabrication of a new class of hybrid materials that allows capture and release of carbon monoxide under mild conditions. We found that carborane-containing metal complexes encapsulated in networks made of poly(dimethylsiloxane) react with CO, even when immersed in water, leading to dramatic color and infrared signature changes. Furthermore, we found that the CO can be easily released from the materials by simply dipping the networks into an organic solvent for less than 1 min, at ambient temperature and pressure, which not only offers a straightforward recycling method, but also a new method for the "on-demand" release of carbon monoxide. We illustrated the utilization of the on-demand release of CO from the networks by carrying out a carbonylation reaction on an electron-deficient metal complex that led to the formation of the CO-adduct, with concomitant recycling of the gel. We anticipate that our sponge-like materials and scalable methodology will open up new avenues for the storage, transport, and controlled release of CO, the silent killer and a major industrial poison.

Anti-inflammatory activity of electron-deficient organometallics

We report an evaluation of the cytotoxicity of a series of electron-deficient (16-electron) half-sandwich precious metal complexes of ruthenium, osmium and iridium ([Os/Ru(η⁶-p-cymene)(1,2-dicarba-closo-dodecarborane-1,2-dithiolato)] (1/2), [Ir(η⁵-pentamethylcyclopentadiene)(1,2-dicarba-closo-dodecarborane-1,2-dithiolato)] (3), [Os/Ru(η⁶-p-cymene)(benzene-1,2-dithiolato)] (4/5) and [Ir(η⁵-pentamethylcyclopentadiene)(benzene-1,2-dithiolato)] (6)) towards RAW 264.7 murine macrophages and MRC-5 fibroblast cells. Complexes 3 and 6 were found to be non-cytotoxic. The anti-inflammatory activity of 1-6 was evaluated in both cell lines after nitric oxide (NO) production and inflammation response induced by bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as the stimulus. All metal complexes were shown to exhibit dose-dependent inhibitory effects on LPS-induced NO production on both cell lines. Remarkably, the two iridium complexes 3 and 6 trigger a full anti-inflammatory response against LPS-induced NO production, which opens up new avenues for the development of non-cytotoxic anti-inflammatory drug candidates with distinct structures and solution chemistry from that of organic drugs, and as such with potential novel mechanisms of action.

Pseudo electron-deficient organometallics: limited reactivity towards electron-donating ligands

This work presents the unusual reactivity of a family of electron-deficient half-sandwich metal complexes.

The synthesis and unexpected solution chemistry of thermochromic carborane-containing osmium half-sandwich complexes

The functionalisation of the 16-electron complex [Os(η⁶-p-cymene)(1,2-dicarba-closo-dodecarborane-1,2-dithiolato)] (1) with a series of Lewis bases to give the corresponding 18-electron complexes is reported.