Synthesis, Characterization, and Antiproliferative Activity of Novel Chiral [QuinoxP*AuCl2]+ Complexes

Herein is reported the synthesis of two Au(III) complexes bearing the (R,R)-(-)-2,3-Bis(tert-butylmethylphosphino)quinoxaline (R,R-QuinoxP*) or (S,S)-(+)-2,3-Bis(tert-butylmethylphosphino)quinoxaline (S,S-QuinoxP*) ligands. By reacting two stoichiometric equivalents of HAuCl4.3H2O to one equivalent of the corresponding QuinoxP* ligand, (R,R)-(-)-2,3-Bis(tert-butylmethylphosphino)quinoxalinedichlorogold(III) tetrachloroaurates(III) (1) and (S,S)-(+)-2,3-Bis(tert-butylmethylphosphino)quinoxalinedichlorogold(III) tetrachloroaurates(III) (2) were formed, respectively, in moderate yields. The structure of (S,S)-(+)-2,3-Bis(tert-butylmethylphosphino)quinoxalinedichlorogold(III) tetrachloroaurates(III) (2) was further confirmed by X-ray crystallography. The antiproliferative activities of the two compounds were evaluated in a panel of cell lines and exhibited promising results comparable to auranofin and cisplatin with IC50 values between 1.08 and 4.83 µM. It is noteworthy that in comparison to other platinum and ruthenium enantiomeric complexes, the two enantiomers (1 and 2) do not exhibit different cytotoxic effects. The compounds exhibited stability in biologically relevant media over 48 h as well as inert reactivity to excess glutathione at 37 °C. These results demonstrate that the Au(III) atom, stabilized by the QuinoxP* ligand, can provide exciting compounds for novel anticancer drugs. These complexes provide a new scaffold to further develop a robust and diverse library of chiral phosphorus Au(III) complexes.

Chirality in metal-based anticancer agents

Chiral metal-based drugs are currently an interesting and rapidly growing field in anticancer research. Here the different chiral metal-based anticancer agents and the extent to which the chiral resolution affects their biological properties are discussed. This review will aid the design of new potent and efficient chiral metal-based anticancer drugs that exploit the unique properties combined with their potential selectivity toward targeted chiral biomolecules.

Chiral-auxiliary-mediated asymmetric synthesis of ruthenium polypyridyl complexes

An octahedral metal complex with 6 different monodentate ligands can form 15 diastereomers as pairs of enantiomers. As a result, the elaborate stereochemistry of octahedral coordination geometries provides tremendous opportunities in the fields of catalysis, the materials sciences, and the life sciences. The demand for enantiomerically pure coordination complexes for tasks related to the selective molecular recognition of biomacromolecules led us to develop synthetic methods to control the absolute stereochemistry at octahedral metal centers. A few years ago our laboratory therefore embarked on a project exploring new and general synthetic strategies for the asymmetric synthesis of inert octahedral transition metal complexes. We initially used the example of thermally inert ruthenium polypyridyl complexes and developed a family of chiral bidentate ligands, including salicyloxazolines, (mercaptophenyl)oxazolines, sulfinylphenols, N-acetylsulfinamides, a phosphinohydroxybinaphthyl, and even the amino acid proline to serve as chiral auxiliaries for asymmetric coordination chemistry. All these chiral auxiliaries strongly coordinate to ruthenium(II) in a bidentate, deprotonated fashion, allowing them to control the absolute metal-centered configuration in the course of subsequent ligand exchange reactions. Finally, we can remove them from the metal without any loss of chiral information and without leaving a chemical trace. A key feature of these chiral auxiliary ligands is their switchable binding strength. A chelate effect ensures that the chiral ligands coordinate very tightly to the metal center, placing their carbon-based, sulfur-based, or axial chirality in a well-defined position close to the metal center to efficiently establish the absolute metal-centered configuration. At the same time a coordinating phenolate, carboximidate, carboxylate, or thiophenolate moiety makes the coordination reversible by weakening the binding strength through protonation or methylation. Following this strategy, we synthesized a large number of homoleptic, bis-heteroleptic, and tris-heteroleptic ruthenium polypyridyl complexes in an asymmetric fashion with enantiomeric ratios that routinely reached or exceeded 96:4. Our approach should serve as a blueprint for the asymmetric synthesis of different classes of ruthenium complexes and chiral coordination complexes of other metals.