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Kench T, Rahardjo A, Terrones GG, Bellamkonda A, Maher TE, Storch M, Kulik HJ, Vilar R. A Semi-Automated, High-Throughput Approach for the Synthesis and Identification of Highly Photo-Cytotoxic Iridium Complexes. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024; 63:e202401808. [PMID: 38404222 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202401808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2024] [Revised: 02/20/2024] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
The discovery of new compounds with pharmacological properties is usually a lengthy, laborious and expensive process. Thus, there is increasing interest in developing workflows that allow for the rapid synthesis and evaluation of libraries of compounds with the aim of identifying leads for further drug development. Herein, we apply combinatorial synthesis to build a library of 90 iridium(III) complexes (81 of which are new) over two synthesise-and-test cycles, with the aim of identifying potential agents for photodynamic therapy. We demonstrate the power of this approach by identifying highly active complexes that are well-tolerated in the dark but display very low nM phototoxicity against cancer cells. To build a detailed structure-activity relationship for this class of compounds we have used density functional theory (DFT) calculations to determine some key electronic parameters and study correlations with the experimental data. Finally, we present an optimised semi-automated synthesise-and-test protocol to obtain multiplex data within 72 hours.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy Kench
- Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, White City Campus, W12 0BZ, London, UK
| | - Arielle Rahardjo
- Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, White City Campus, W12 0BZ, London, UK
| | - Gianmarco G Terrones
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Thomas E Maher
- Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, White City Campus, W12 0BZ, London, UK
- Institute of Chemical Biology, Imperial College London, White City Campus, W12 0BZ, London, UK
| | - Marko Storch
- Department of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, SW7 2AZ, London, UK
- London Biofoundry, Imperial College Translation and Innovation Hub, W12 0BZ, London, UK
| | - Heather J Kulik
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Ramon Vilar
- Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, White City Campus, W12 0BZ, London, UK
- Institute of Chemical Biology, Imperial College London, White City Campus, W12 0BZ, London, UK
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