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The success of a classic inorganic coordination compound, Cisplatin, cis-[Pt(NH 3 ) 2 Cl 2 ], as the first anticancer metallodrug started a field of research dedicated to discovering coordination compounds with antitumor activity, encompassing various metals. Among these, copper complexes have emerged as interesting candidates to develop drugs to treat cancer. In this work, mixed ligand complexes of Cu(II) with diimines (phenanthroline or 4-methylphenanthroline) and 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propanoate, phenylcarboxylate or phenylacetate were synthesized. They were characterized in the solid state, including a new crystal structure of [Cu 2 (3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propanoate) 3 (phenanthroline) 2 ]Cl·H 2 O. The obtained complexes presented a variety of stoichiometries. In solution, complexes were partially dissociated in the corresponding Cu-diimine complex. The complexes bound to the DNA by partial intercalation and groove binding, as assessed by Circular Dichroism, relative viscosity change and UV-Vis titration. The cytotoxicity of the complexes was determined in vitro on MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 (human metastatic breast adenocarcinomas, the first triple negative), MCF-10A (breast nontumoral), A549 (human lung epithelial carcinoma), and MRC-5 (human nontumoral lung epithelial cells), finding an activity higher than that of Cisplatin, although with less selectivity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In a search for new antitumoral agents, a series of homoleptic copper(II) complexes with amino acids and dipeptides, as well as heteroleptic complexes containing both dipeptides and 1,10-phenanthroline, were studied. Furthermore, a single-crystal structure containing alanyl-leucinato ([Cu 3 (AlaLeu) 3 (H 2 O) 3 (CO 3 )]·PF 6 ·H 2 O), which is the first homotrinuclear carbonato-bridged copper(II) complex with a dipeptide moiety, is presented. To assess possible antitumor action mechanisms, we focused on the comparative analysis of pro- and antioxidant behaviors. Pro-oxidant activity, in which the reactive oxygen species (ROS) formed by the reaction of the complexes with H 2 O 2 produce oxidative damage to 2-deoxy-d-ribose, was evaluated using the TBARS method. Additionally, the antioxidant action was quantified through the superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity, using a protocol based on the inhibitory effect of SOD on the reduction of nitrobluetetrazolium (NBT) by the superoxide anion generated by the xanthine/xanthine oxidase system. Our findings show that Cu-amino acid complexes are strong ROS producers and moderate SOD mimics. Conversely, Cu-dipeptide-phen complexes are good SOD mimics but poor ROS producers. The activity of Cu-dipeptide complexes was strongly dependent on the dipeptide. A DFT computational analysis revealed that complexes with high SOD-like activity tend to display a large dipole moment and condensed-to-copper charge, softness and LUMO contribution. Moreover, good ROS producers have higher global hardness and copper electrophilicity, lower copper softness and flexible and freely accessible coordination polyhedra.

This work presents the synthesis and characterization of eight copper complexes [Cu(L-dipeptide)(neo)]·nH 2 O (neo = neocuproine) and their cytotoxic activities against tumor cell lines. The crystalline structure of [Cu(gly-val)(neo)]·3H 2 O, [Cu(gly-leu)(neo)]·H 2 O, [Cu(ala-gly)(neo)]·4H 2 O, [Cu(val-phe)(neo)]·4.5H 2 O and [Cu(phe-phe)(neo)]·3H 2 O were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. In all of them, the Cu(II) is pentacoordinated, in a square pyramidal environment. The coordination observed in solid state was retained in the major species in aqueous solution, as suggested by Electronic Paramagnet Resonance and UV-vis spectroscopies. The complexes were shown to have affinity for isolated DNA, as determined by Circular Dichroism experiments. Furthermore, biological experiments showed that all the complexes present high cytotoxic activity against the cell lines: MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 (human metastatic breast adenocarcinomas, the first triple negative), MCF-10A (human normal breast cells), A549 (human lung epithelial carcinoma) and MRC-5 (human lung epithelial cells). Together, these results suggest that these compounds are promising steps towards new effective drugs to treat cancer., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

In the search for new compounds with antitumor activity, coordination complexes with different metals are being studied by our group. This work presents the synthesis and characterization of six copper complexes with general stoichiometry [Cu(L-dipeptide)(phen)]·nH2O (were phen=1,10-phenanthroline) and their cytotoxic activities against tumor cell lines. To characterize these systems, analytical and spectroscopic studies were performed in solid state (by UV-visible, IR, X-ray diffraction) including the crystal structure of four new complexes (of the six complexes studied): [Cu(Ala-Phe)(phen)]·4H2O, [Cu(Phe-Ala)(phen)]·4H2O, [Cu(Phe-Val)(phen)]·4.5H2O and [Cu(Phe-Phe)(phen)]·3H2O. In all of them, the copper ion is situated in a distorted squared pyramidal environment. The phen ligand is perpendicular to the dipeptide, therefore exposed and potentially available for interaction with biological molecules. In addition, for all the studied complexes, structural information in solution using EPR and UV-visible spectroscopies were obtained, showing that the coordination observed in solid state is maintained. The lipophilicity, DNA binding and albumin interaction were also studied. Biological experiments showed that all the complexes induce cell death in the cell lines: HeLa (human cervical adenocarcinoma), MCF-7 (human metastatic breast adenocarcinoma) and A549 (human lung epithelial carcinoma). Among the six complexes, [Cu(Ala-Phe)(phen)] presents the lowest IC50 values. Taken together all these data we hypothesize that [Cu(Ala-Phe)(phen)] may be a good candidate for further studies in vivo., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)