Fuels, power and chemical periodicity

The insatiable-and ever-growing-demand of both the developed and the developing countries for power continues to be met largely by the carbonaceous fuels comprising coal, and the hydrocarbons natural gas and liquid petroleum. We review the properties of the chemical elements, overlaid with trends in the periodic table, which can help explain the historical-and present-dominance of hydrocarbons as fuels for power generation. However, the continued use of hydrocarbons as fuel/power sources to meet our economic and social needs is now recognized as a major driver of dangerous global environmental changes, including climate change, acid deposition, urban smog and the release of many toxic materials. This has resulted in an unprecedented interest in and focus on alternative, renewable or sustainable energy sources. A major area of interest to emerge is in hydrogen energy as a sustainable vector for our future energy needs. In that vision, the issue of hydrogen storage is now a key challenge in support of hydrogen-fuelled transportation using fuel cells. The chemistry of hydrogen is itself beautifully diverse through a variety of different types of chemical interactions and bonds forming compounds with most other elements in the periodic table. In terms of their hydrogen storage and production properties, we outline various relationships among hydride compounds and materials of the chemical elements to provide some qualitative and quantitative insights. These encompass thermodynamic and polarizing strength properties to provide such background information. We provide an overview of the fundamental nature of hydrides particularly in relation to the key operating parameters of hydrogen gravimetric storage density and the desorption/operating temperature at which the requisite amount of hydrogen is released for use in the fuel cell. While we await the global transition to a completely renewable and sustainable future, it is also necessary to seek CO2 mitigation technologies applied to the use of fossil fuels. We review recent advances in the strategy of using hydrocarbon fossil fuels themselves as compounds for the high capacity storage and production of hydrogen without any CO2 emissions. Based on these advances, the world may end up with a hydrogen economy completely different from the one it had expected to develop; remarkably, with 'Green hydrogen' being derived directly from the hydrogen-stripping of fossil fuels. This article is part of the theme issue 'Mendeleev and the periodic table'.

In vitro assays for assessing the potential for copper complexes to function as radiopharmaceutical agents

A series of chemical in vitro assays are described to provide a rapid initial assessment of the in vivo stability and biological behaviour of potential new copper(II) based radiopharmaceutical agents. Chemical challenges using an excess of cysteine, glutathione (GSH) and histidine, which are models of S- and N-donor molecules found in vivo, are used to provide a measure of the potential for loss of the copper(II) ion from the radiopharmaceutical as a result of ligand dissociation. In addition, thiol containing molecules such as cysteine and GSH provide a redox challenge, whereby the copper(II) complex may be reduced to give a copper(I) species. The stability of the copper(I) species toward oxidation, protonation, and ligand dissociation may be crucial in determining the biodistribution, the biological half-life and excretion mechanisms of a potential radiopharmaceutical. Further evaluation of the redox stability is assessed using the ubiquitous biological reductant ascorbic acid. The relative stability of a complex with respect to ligand dissociation in human serum provides one of the most important experiments assessing the potential of a complex to be used in vivo. Further challenge experiments with serum proteins such as thioredoxin and serum albumin can be used to provide more detailed information on the probable fate of the complex in serum. Evaluation of complex stability and speciation over a range of pH values may also be used to obtain information on potential biodistribution.

Towards new transition metal-based hypoxic selective agents for therapy and imaging

The greater lability of Co(II) relative to Co(III) can potentially be used to achieve selective delivery of nitrogen mustard type molecules to hypoxic cells. Attempts to improve the stability of the Co(II) state by utilising tripodal tetradentate ligands are described, together with the results of DF calculations. Rhenium has two beta-emitting isotopes (186)Re and (188)Re that have potential for use to treat cancer if the complexes can be targeted with sufficient specificity. We describe some new rapid low temperature routes using hydrazines to labile Re(V) and Re(III) species which provide potential convenient access to a wide range of oxo- and diazenido-complexes. The synthesis of new Re(V) and Re(III) thiosemicarbazone complexes is presented in the context of obtaining hypoxic selective species. Copper(II) bis(thiosemicarbazone) complexes are known to be hypoxic selective and spectroscopic, cyclic voltammetric and computational studies of the mechanism are presented, together with the synthesis of new Cu(II) complexes directed towards the hypoxic selective delivery of nitrogen mustard type molecules.

Gold complexes with potentially tri- and tetradentate phosphinothiolate ligands

Reactions of [Au(PPh3)Cl], (Bu4N)[AuCl4] and the organometallic gold complex [Au(damp-C1,N)Cl2] (damp- = 2-(N,N-dimethylaminomethyl)phenyl) with the potentially tri- and tetradentate proligands PhP(C6H3-SH-2-R-3)2 (H2L1a, R = SiMe3; H2L1b, R = H) and P(C6H4-SH-2)3 (H3L2) result in the formation of mono- or dinuclear gold complexes depending on the precursor used. Monomeric complexes of the type [AuL1Cl] are formed upon the reaction with [Au(damp-C1,N)Cl2], but small amounts of dinuclear [AuL1]2 complexes with gold in two different oxidation states, +1 and +3, have been isolated as side-products. The dinuclear compounds are obtained in better yields from [AuCl4]-. A dinuclear complex having two Au(III) centers can be isolated from the reaction of [Au(PPh3)Cl] with H3L2, whereas from the reaction with H2L1b the mononuclear [Au(Ph3P)HL1b] is obtained, which contains a three-coordinate gold atom. Comparatively short gold-gold distances have been found in the dinuclear complexes (2.978(2) and 3.434(1) A). They are indicative of weak gold-gold interactions, which is unusual for gold(III).

Uptake of 99Tcm-nitrido dithiocarbamate complexes by tumour cells

Uptake of radiopharmaceuticals by tumour cells may provide useful information on the biochemical characteristics of the cell, such as its drug resistance status. We have prepared a series of 99Tcm-nitrido dithiocarbamate complexes of the type [99TcmN(dtc)2] (dtc = N-R1-N-R2-dithiocarbamato, R1, R2 = Me, Me; Et, Et; Et, n-Bu; Me, CH2CH2NMe2; Me, CH2CH2NMe3+; Me, CH2COOMe), and investigated the kinetics of uptake of these complexes in several tumour cell lines. The 99Tcm-nitrido dithiocarbamate complexes were prepared by stannous reduction of [99Tcm]pertechnetate in a solution of DPTA and succinic dihydrazide followed by addition of the appropriate dithiocarbamate. The complexes were analysed by reverse-phase HPLC. The complexes were incubated with the human tumour cell lines MKN-45, H-69, H-348 and MCF-7 and with normal mixed leukocytes and erythrocytes, and the uptake and washout of the various complexes were determined at various time points. Uptake was rapid, high in some cell lines and lower in others. In general, the more lipophilic complexes showed high uptake, but the most lipophilic did not show the greatest uptake. Uptake was temperature-independent. Most of the bound activity was retained by the cells after removal of unbound tracer. The mechanism of uptake is different to that of 99Tcm-MIBI. The high and stable uptake of these complexes suggests that they may have application for in vivo tumour imaging and characterization, and further studies are required to establish their mechanisms of uptake.

Lipophilic 99mTc-nitride radiopharmaceuticals as potential myocardial imaging agents

Monocationic 99mTc-nitrido complexes of a variety of diphosphine ligands have been prepared and the in vivo distribution of such cations has been examined in Sprague-Dawley rats. These complexes show initially high myocardial uptake with subsequent wash-out in this animal model. The lack of myocardial retention can be attributed to the facile in vivo reduction of these cations.