Studies have shown that traditional platinum-containing chemotherapeutics are extremely cytotoxic and kill healthy cells at a faster rate than cancer cells.  A potential alternative to this harsh treatment is the use of a photodynamic drug that is benign in its native state but can be activated with light within a cancerous region giving spatiotemporal control.  Photodynamic chemotherapeutics (PDTs) must absorb within the ‘therapeutic window’ (600 nm – 1100 nm) and undergo light-activated reactions.  Herein we present the synthesis and characterization of a series of Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes that absorb within the therapeutic window as well as their photoinduced ligand ejection kinetics. We demonstrate that there is an interplay between moving the absorption into the near-IR and photoinduced reactions kinetics utilizing photolysis and temperature-dependent emission analysis. We also present the cytotoxicity studies of the compounds both with and without illumination. From this data, a new series of Ru(II) polypyridyl PDTs is proposed and briefly mentioned.

Synthesis and analysis of Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes for use as photodynamic chemotherapeutics

ACS Spring 2022

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