Half-Sandwich Iridium(III) and Ruthenium(II) Complexes Containing P^P-Chelating Ligands: A New Class of Potent Anticancer Agents with Unusual Redox Features.

Article Cite This: Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX pubs.acs.org/IC Half-Sandwich Iridium(III) and Ruthenium(II) Complexes Containing P^P-Chelating Ligands: A New Class of Potent Anticancer Agents with Unusual Redox Features JuanJuan Li, Meng Tian, Zhenzhen Tian, Shumiao Zhang, Chao Yan, Changfang Shao, and Zhe Liu* Institute of Anticancer Agents Development and Theranostic Application, The Key Laboratory of Life-Organic Analysis and Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Intermediates and Analysis of Natural Medicine, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qufu Normal University, Qufu 273165, China S Supporting Information * ABSTRACT: A series of half-sandwich IrIII pentamethylcyclopentadienyl and RuII arene complexes containing P^P-chelating ligands of the type [(Cpx/ arene)M(P^P)Cl]PF6, where M = Ir, Cpx is pentamethylcyclopentadienyl (Cp*), or 1-biphenyl-2,3,4,5-tetramethyl cyclopentadienyl (CpxbiPh); M = Ru, arene is 3phenylpropan-1-ol (bz-PA), 4-phenylbutan-1-ol (bz-BA), or p-cymene (p-cym), and P^P is 2,20-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,10-binaphthyl (BINAP), have been synthesized and fully characterized, three of them by X-ray crystallography, and their potential as anticancer agents explored. All ﬁve complexes showed potent anticancer activity toward HeLa and A549 cancer cells. The introduction of a biphenyl substituent on the Cp* ring for the iridium complexes has no eﬀect on the antiproliferative potency. Ruthenium complex [(η6-p-cym)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (5) displayed the highest potency, about 15 and 7.5 times more active than the clinically used cisplatin against A549 and HeLa cells, respectively. No binding to 9-MeA and 9-EtG nucleobases was observed. Although these types of complexes interact with ctDNA, DNA appears not to be the major target. Compared to iridium complex [(η5-Cp*)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1), ruthenium complex (5) showed stronger ability to interfere with coenzyme NAD+/NADH couple through transfer hydrogenation reactions and to induce ROS in cells, which is consistent with their anticancer activities. The redox properties of the complexes 1, 5, and ligand BINAP were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry. Complexes 1 and 5 arrest cell cycles at the S phase, Sub-G1 phase and G1 phase, respectively, and cause cell apoptosis toward A549 cells. ■ reported a series of cytotoxic trichlorido or Cp* IrIII complexes containing N^N-chelating polypyridyl ligands, such as fac[Ir(phen)(dmso-kS)Cl3] (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline), which are highly active against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells and HT-29 human colon cancer cells.26,27 The Sadler group started to explore iridium based anticancer agents in 2008. At the start, a series of IrIII Cp* chlorido complexes containing N^N-, O^O-, or O^N-chelating ligands, such as [(η5-Cp*)Ir(phen)Cl]PF6, were synthesized; however, the antiproliferative activity test showed that they were inactive (IC50, concentration at which 50% of the cell growth is inhibited, >100 μM) against A2780 human ovarian cancer cells.28 However, when a phenyl or biphenyl ring was introduced onto the Cp* ring, a signiﬁcant increase in the anticancer activity against A2780 cells was achieved, for example, from [(η5-Cp*)Ir(phen)Cl]PF6 (IC50 > 100 μM) to [(η 5 -Cp xbiph )Ir(phen)Cl]PF 6 (Cp xbiph = C5Me4C6H4C6H5) (IC50 = 0.72 μM).28 Furthermore, Cp* complex [(η5-Cp*)Ir(C^N)Cl]PF6, bearing an anionic C^Nchelating 2-phenylpyridine ligand, instead of a neutral diimine type ligand (such as phen and 2,2′-bipyridine), displayed INTRODUCTION Cisplatin is one of the earliest and most successful metal based anticancer drugs in the clinic, which is still used in cancer treatment after almost ﬁve decades since its chance discovery.1 In the ﬁeld of metal based anticancer agents, cisplatin is still the benchmark for evaluation of antiproliferative activity and comparison of mechanism of action.2,3 However, due to the disadvantages of cisplatin and other platinum based anticancer drugs, such as dose-dependent side eﬀects and the development of resistance of some carcinomas, a wide range of novel transition metal complexes that might be eﬀective against a wider range of cancers, with less side eﬀects and diﬀerent mechanisms of action, are being screened for their use as therapeutic agents.4−10 Iridium (Ir) is a third-row transition metal, and its compounds are usually considered to be too inert to possess high activity. A few early trials seem to conﬁrm this assumption.11,12 However, very recently, iridium(III) complexes have been shown to possess great potential as novel anticancer agents, which not only showed high potency toward a wide range of cancer cells but also displayed completely diﬀerent mechanisms of action (MOAs) from the clinically used platinum based drugs.13−25 Sheldrick and co-workers © XXXX American Chemical Society Received: July 31, 2017 A DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01959 Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX Article Inorganic Chemistry promising anticancer activity, with IC50 value 10.8 μM against A2780 cell line.29 Going from [(η5-Cp*)Ir(C^N)Cl]PF6 to [(η5-Cpxbiph)Ir(C^N)Cl]PF6 (C^N = 2-phenylpyridine), an order of magnitude increase in potency, from IC50 10.8 to 0.7 μM against A2780 cells, was achieved upon the inclusion of a biphenyl substituent to the Cp* ring.30 Ruthenium is another valuable metal in the search for therapeutic agents.2 Ruthenium compounds are attracting much attention for anticancer drug design since they have a rich redox chemistry (RuII and RuIII) and exhibit a similar spectrum of kinetics to platinum(II).31 In general, ruthenium complexes show less toxicity than their platinum analogues, as ruthenium is able to mimic iron during its interaction with proteins, such as transferrin and albumin; thus, more selective entry into cancer tissues can be achieved as more transferrin receptors located on the cancer cell surface.2,32,33 A large number of ruthenium compounds have been designed and displayed potent anticancer activities. Moreover, two ruthenium(III) complexes have entered clinical trials.34−36 The RuII ethylenediamine (en) complexes developed by the Sadler group, [(η6-arene)Ru(en)Cl]+, have been evaluated for activity both in vitro in A2780 cancer cells and in vivo, showing potent activity and non-cross-resistance to cisplatin-resistant cells.37 Dyson et al. reported the high selectivity of an arene RuII PTA series of compounds (pta = 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphatricyclo-[3.3.1.1]decane) toward the TS/A mouse adenocarcinoma cancer cells and HBL-100 human mammary normal cells.38 With regard to half-sandwich IrIII and RuII complexes [(Cpx/ arene)M(L^L′)Z]0/n+, all of the ligands around the metal center including the cyclopentadienyl/arene, chelating ligand, L^L′, and leaving group Z can inﬂuence the anticancer activity dramatically.4,15,18,39 RuII arene anticancer complexes, where arene, for example, is benzene, p-cymene (p-cym), biphenyl, 9,10-dihydroanthracene (DHA), and 5,8,9,10-tetrahydroanthracene (THA), have been widely investigated for the eﬀects of various arenes on the chemical and biological activities.40,41 A large number of metal complexes based on N^N-chelating ligands have been evaluated for their medicinal application, while complexes containing P^P-chelating ligands are much less investigated.36,42−44 Only a few IrIII complexes with P^Schelating ligand show comparable or even higher antiproliferative activities than cisplatin against 8505C and SW480 cell lines.45 Metal complexes of 2,20-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,10-binaphthyl (BINAP) have recently drawn attention as promising asymmetric catalyts in many organic reactions.46 However, to the best of our knowledge, no biological activity of iridium or ruthenium BINAP complexes has been reported so far. In this work, a series of half-sandwich IrIII and RuII complexes of the type [(η5-Cpx)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6, where Cpx is pentamethylcyclopentadienyl Cp* (1), biphenyl (Cpxbiph) derivatives (2), and [(η6-arene)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6, where the arene is 3-phenylpropan-1-ol (bz-PA) (3), 4-phenylbutan-1-ol (bz-BA) (4), and p-cymene (p-cym) (5), with BINAP as P^P-chelating ligand, were synthesized and characterized (Chart 1). We report studies of the nucleobase binding, DNA interactions, BSA interactions, and cell toxicity of the complexes. The work also explores the MoA of these metal complexes by cell cycle, ROS, apoptosis, and catalytic hydride transfer analysis. The results suggest that this series of metal complexes are potential candidates for development as new therapeutic agents. Chart 1. Organometallic IrIII Cyclopentadienyl [(η5Cpx)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 and RuII Arene [(η6arene)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 Complexes Studied in This Work ■ RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The dinuclear dichloro-bridged complexes [(η5-Cp*)IrCl2]2 (dimer 1) and [(η5-Cpxbiph)IrCl2]2 (dimer 2) were synthesized by microwave heating of IrCl3 and relative cyclopentadienyl ligand in absolute methanol.18 Dimeric μ-chloro-bridged complexes [(η6-bz-PA)RuCl2]2 (dimer 3), [(η6-bz-BA)RuCl2]2 (dimer 4)47 and [(η6-p-cym)RuCl2]2 (dimer 5)48 are readily formed upon conversion of 3′-(2,5-dihydrophenyl)propanol, 4′-(2,5-dihydrophenyl)butanol,49 and α-terpinene, respectively, with RuCl3 under reﬂuxing in absolute methanol (Scheme 1). Complexes 1−5 were synthesized by reactions between the ligand BINAP and the dinuclear iridium/ruthenium precursors dimers 1−5 in methanol at ambient temperature. All complexes are newly synthesized compounds and were characterized by 1H NMR, mass spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. All complexes were isolated as PF6− salts. X-ray Crystal Structures. Single crystals of [(η5-Cp*)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1), [(η6-bz-PA)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (3), and [(η6-pcym)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (5) were grown by slow diﬀusion of hexane into a saturated dichloromethane solution of these complexes. The structures and their atom numbering schemes are shown in Figure 1. Crystallographic data and selected bond lengths and angles are listed in Tables 1 and 2. Complexes of 1, 3, and 5 are arranged in the triclinic and monoclinic crystal systems with the P1̅, P21/n, C2/c space groups, respectively. Each complex has the expected pseudo-octahedral halfsandwich piano stool geometry. The distance between the iridium center and the centroid of η5-cyclopentadienyl ring is 1.913 Å, while the distances between the ruthenium center and the centroid of η6-arene for complexes 3 and 5 are 1.760 and 1.799 Å, respectively. The three complexes have similar metal− Cl bond distances for 1, 3, and 5: 2.3922(17), 2.384(3), and 2.391(3) Å, respectively. The Ir−P bond lengths in 1 are similar B DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01959 Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX Article Inorganic Chemistry ranging from 1.4 to 35.0 μM, and against HeLa cells with IC50 values from 1.0 to 23.7 μM. The activities of complexes 1−5 fall in the following order 5 > 1 > 2 > cisplatin > 4 > 3 toward both HeLa and A549 cancer cells. Against our expectations,28 the Cp* complex 1 exhibited an antiproliferative activity 2 times higher toward both cell lines than its Cpxbiph analogue 2. This result is contrary to our previous conclusions, which showed the anticancer activity increased signiﬁcantly with an increase in the number of phenyl rings on the Cp* ring.4 The presence of the extended phenyl rings not only increased the hydrophobicity of the complexes, thereby easing their passage through the cell membrane so that more complex could ﬁnd its way into the cells, but also had the potential for intercalation into DNA base pairs. The result here may be indicating that the presence of arenes in the chelating ligand BINAP may have oﬀset the advantages of having the extended arenes on the Cp*. Complex 1 containing Cp* showed similar activity compare to [(η5-Cp*)Ir(N^O)Cl]PF6 (N^O = 1,2-naphthoquinone-1oximato) against HeLa cells.51 Sheldrick and co-workers reported a series of cytotoxic Cp* IrIII complexes containing N,N-chelating polypyridyl ligands. In general, the antiproliferative eﬀects of this type of N,N-bound polypyridyl IrIII complexes are governed by the size of the polypyridyl ligands in the order of bpy < phen, dpq < dppz < dppn.52 Ruthenium complex 5 displayed the most potent antiproliferative activity against both cell lines: about 15 and 7.5 times more potent than cisplatin toward A549 and HeLa cells, respectively. Ruthenium complexes 3 and 4 containing the −OH group are less active, probably due to the hydrophilicity of −OH, and therefore noneﬀective in penetrating into the cell membrane.53 From complex 3 to 4, the antiproliferative activity improved slightly with the increase of ligand length of the backbond. Sadler et al. reported that the more hydrophobic the arene ligand is, the better cancer cell growth inhibitory activity.37 Kim’s group also reported a similar trend in the in vitro anticancer activity of Ir(III), Rh(III), and Ru(II) complexes against the lymphoma cell line.54 For the most potent two complexes 1 and 5, their antiproliferative activities were further evaluated against two human bronchial epithelial normal cells 16HBE and BEAS-2B (Table 3). Unfortunately, no selectivity was observed for the two complexes between cancer cells versus normal cells. Hence, more structural modiﬁcation is necessary to improve the selectivity in future work. Partition Coeﬃcients (log P). Lipophilicity is often consistent with the cellular uptake eﬃciencies of chemotherapeutic agents, and therefore, it has signiﬁcant eﬀects on their cytotoxic potency. The log P values for complexes 1 and 5 in octanol/water systems were determined because of their low IC50 values. NaCl (50 mM) was used to suppress hydrolysis of the complexes so the log P values tested are for the chlorido complexes. The values of log P for 1 (2.04) and 5 (1.36) are varied with the metals and cyclopentadienyl or arene of the complexes (Table 4). The log P values of new pharmacophores in the Comprehensive Medicinal Chemistry database range from −0.4 to 5.6.55 The log P values for complexes 1 and 5 are within this range. The hydrophobicity and anticancer activity were not correlated in this study. Complex 5 displays lower hydrophobicity but the most cytotoxic activity. Nucleobases Binding. As DNA is usually an important target for metal based anticancer compounds, the interaction between nucleobase models 9-ethylguanine (9-EtG) and 9methyladenine (9-MeA) and complexes 1−5 was investigated. Scheme 1. Synthesis of dimers 3−5 and Respective HalfSandwich IrIII and RuII Complexes to the Ru−P bond lengths in 3 and 5. However, slight diﬀerences between the metal−P1 and metal−P2 distances were observed in all three complexes (Table 2). Comparison between the η6-arene in complexes 3 and 5 shows that the functionalized arene in complex 3 is closer to the RuII center. This could be due to the presence of the stronger electron-donating group OH in addition to the steric hindrance eﬀect of the isopropyl group. Due to the relatively strong trans eﬀect of the P^P-chelating ligand BINAP, the Ircentroid bond length 1.913 Å in complex 1 is signiﬁcantly longer than the 1.820 and 1.786 Å found in the C^N complex [(η5-Cp*)Ir(phpy)Cl] and the N^N complex [(η5-Cp*)Ir(bpy)Cl]Cl, respectively.28,29,50 The Ir−Cl bond length 2.3922(17) Å in complex 1 is similar to the Ir−Cl bond length 2.3968(7) Å in [(η5-Cp*)Ir(phpy)Cl] and 2.404(2) Å in [(η5Cp*)Ir(bpy)Cl]Cl. Cytotoxicity. The aim of the present study is to investigate the in vitro viability of HeLa human cervical and A549 human lung cancer cell lines after treatment with various concentrations of complexes 1−5 over 24 h. The potentials of the synthesized complexes 1−5 on the IC50 values (concentration at which 50% of the cell growth is inhibited) after 24 h of exposure to the compounds are listed in Table 3. The HeLa cells and A549 cells were treated with cisplatin in the same concentration range and used as a control, and they showed an IC50 value of 7.5 μM toward HeLa cancer cells and 21.3 μM toward A549 lung cancer cells, respectively. Excitingly, the newly synthesized ﬁve complexes exhibited potency at least comparable to cisplatin against A549 cells with IC50 values C DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01959 Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX Article Inorganic Chemistry Figure 1. X-ray crystal structures for (A) [(η5-Cp*)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1), (B) [(η6-bz-PA)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (3), and (C) [(η6-p-cym)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (5). Hydrogen atoms, solvent CH2Cl2, and counterions PF6− are omitted for clarity. Table 1. Crystallographic Data for [(η5-Cp*)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1), [(η6-bz-PA)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (3), and [(η6-pcym)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (5) formula MW Cryst size (mm) λ (Å) temp (κ) cryst syst space group a (Å) b (Å) c (Å) α (deg) β (deg) γ (deg) vol (Å3) Z R1 [I > 2σ(I)] wR2 [I > 2σ(I)] GOF 1 3 5 C54H47ClF6IrP3 1130.48 0.42 × 0.35 × 0.30 0.71073 298(2) Triclinic P1̅ 12.2960(11) 12.7308(12) 15.3989(14) 77.0650(10) 86.567(2) 85.275(2) 2339.2(4) 2 0.0506 0.1294 1.043 C53H44ClF6OP3Ru 1040.31 0.20 × 0.12 × 0.08 0.71073 293(2) Monoclinic P21/n 16.296(2) 18.704(3) 16.701(2) 90 110.879(3) 90 4756.3(11) 4 0.0948 0.2319 0.948 C56H50Cl5F6P3Ru 1208.19 0.30 × 0.20 × 0.12 0.71073 298(2) Monoclinic C2/c 33.150(3) 15.2970(14) 21.6051(19) 90 99.1530(10) 90 10816.4(16) 8 0.1264 0.3086 1.048 potency. 1H NMR spectra showed that no hydrolysis was observed for complexes 1 and 5 in 80% DMSO-d6/20% D2O (v/v) after 24 h at 310 K (Figure S2 in the Supporting Information). DMSO was used to ensure solubility of metal complexes in solution. Then GSH (5 mol equiv) was added to the solution under N2 atmosphere. The resulting solution was monitored by 1H NMR at 310 K. No adduct of complexes and GSH was detected after 2 h, suggesting that the iridium/ ruthenium chloride complexes are stable in the absence and 9-MeA or 9-EtG (3 mol equiv) was added to a solution of 1−5 (1.0 mM) in 80% DMSO-d6/20% D2O (v/v) at 310 K. No additional 1H NMR peaks were detected over 24 h (Figure S1 in the Supporting Information). Also, no adducts formation was detected by mass spectrometry. Interaction with GSH. GSH is plentiful in cells and participates in the detoxiﬁcation of many anticancer drugs.15 Therefore, we investigated the stability of complexes 1 and 5 in the absence and presence of GSH due to their high anticancer D DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01959 Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX Article Inorganic Chemistry Table 4. Log P for Complexes 1 and 5a Table 2. Selected Bond Lengths (Å) and Angles (deg) for [(η5-Cp*)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1), [(η6-bz-PA)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (3), and [(η6-p-cym)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (5) M−C (cyclopentadienyl) M−C(centroid) M−P1 M−P2 M−Cl P1−M−P2 P1−M−Cl P2−M−Cl 1 3 5 2.242(7) 2.250(7) 2.259(7) 2.272(7) 2.324(6) 2.182(12) 2.228(12) 2.248(12) 2.249(12) 2.266(12) 2.304(11) 1.760 2.365(3) 2.338(3) 2.384(3) 91.15(10) 88.31(10) 85.88(10) 2.231(15) 2.262(15) 2.265(18) 2.31(2) 2.330(17) 2.330(17) 1.799 2.333(4) 2.391(4) 2.391(3) 90.53(13) 84.70(12) 89.28(13) 1.913 2.3272(16) 2.3522(17) 2.3922(17) 91.72(6) 85.59(6) 91.23(6) log P a complex Mean 1 5 2.04 ± 0.12 1.36 ± 0.07 Results are obtained from three independent experiments. Figure 2. UV−vis spectra of complexes 4 and 5 (3.33 μM) upon addition of ctDNA (0−0.3 mM) in 5 mM Tris−HCl/10 mM NaCl buﬀer solution (pH = 7.2). The arrows show the direction of change in absorbance upon increasing the concentration of the complex. Inset: Plot of A0/(A − A0) vs 1/ [DNA]. presence of GSH, which may avoid deactivation too early before reaching their targets. Interaction with ctDNA. The experiment was carried out keeping the concentration of complexes 1−5 constant (3.33 μM) and increasing the concentration of ctDNA (0−0.3 mM), and the reaction solution was monitored by UV−vis spectroscopy (Figure 2, Figure S3 in the Supporting Information, and Table 5). Addition of increasing amounts of ctDNA results in hypochromism at 214−220 nm and moderate bathochromic shift (3−6 nm) for all complexes, indicating a signiﬁcant interaction with ctDNA, probably due to noncovalent binding modes of electrostatic binding and/or intercalations between base pairs.56,57 Intercalation into DNA by complexes often causes bathchromism and hypochromism due to strong stacking interaction between aromatic chromophore and base pairs of DNA. Compared to the iridium complexes 1 and 2, ruthenium complexes 3−5 caused more signiﬁcant hypochromism. Interactions of the complexes with ctDNA were ﬁtted to the Benesi−Hildebrand equation (eq 1) to calculate the binding constants Kb58 A0 εf εf = + (A − A 0 ) (εb − εf ) Kb(εb − εf )[DNA] (1) Table 5. Absorption Spectroscopic Properties of the IrIII/ RuII Complexes on Binding to DNA Absorption λmax (nm) Complex Free Bounda Δλ Hypochromicity (%) Kb (M−1) 1 2 3 4 5 215 214 218 223 219 218 219 224 225 223 3 5 6 2 4 22.0 21.0 44.1 42.5 45.9 6.4 × 104 3.1 × 103 1.6 × 104 4.1 × 103 3.6 × 104 a [M] = 3.33 μM at [DNA]/[M] = 90. As the four complexes have the same P^P-chelating ligand and overall charge on the complex, the diﬀerence between binding constants is mainly related to the nature of the cyclopentadienyl/arene ring and the metal ions. In general, iridium complexes showed higher binding constants Kb than ruthenium complexes, and Ir Cp* complex 1 displayed the highest Kb to ctDNA in the four complexes tested. Sadler and co-workers have previously reported that Cpxbiph complexes displayed a much higher intercalative ability compared to their Cp* analogues.28 However, in comparison with 1, substitution of the methyl group with biphenyl decreases the Kb from 6.4 × 104 M−1 to 3.1 × 103 M−1 (2 vs 1). The introduction of functionalized ligand p-cym analogue increases the value of Kb where εb and εf are the extinction coeﬃcients of the complex in bound and free form, respectively; A0 is the initial absorbance of free complex, and A is the absorbance of the compound in the presence of DNA. The plot of A0/(A − A0) versus 1/ [DNA] gives a straight line, and the binding constants (Kb) were calculated as slope/intercept ratio (Figure 2 inset and Figure S3 inset in the Supporting Information). Table 3. In Vitro Anticancer Activity of Complexes 1−5 toward A549 and HeLa Cancer Cells and 16HBE and BEAS-2B Normal Cells over 24 h IC50 (μM) Complex A549 HeLa 16HBE BEAS-2B [(η5-Cp*)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1) [(η5-Cpxbiph)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 (2) [(η6-bz-PA)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (3) [(η6-bz-BA)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (4) [((η6-p-cym)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (5) Cisplatin 4.6 ± 0.1 8.0 ± 0.1 35.0 ± 1.1 31.1 ± 3.4 1.4 ± 0.1 21.3 ± 1.7 3.4 ± 0.5 6.2 ± 0.3 23.7 ± 1.5 21.4 ± 2.5 1.0 ± 0.1 7.5 ± 0.2 2.4 ± 0.1 2.8 ± 0.1 1.3 ± 0.1 1.3 ± 0.1 E DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01959 Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX Article Inorganic Chemistry Supporting Information). As NADH has a UV absorption at 339 nm while its oxidized form NAD+ has not, the turnover numbers (TONs) of complexes 1 (4.1), 2 (4.1), 3 (5.6), 4 (6.2), and 5 (15.5) were calculated by measuring the intensity changes at 339 nm (Figure 3B and Figure S6 in the Supporting Information). Ruthenium complex 5 possesses the highest TON among the four complexes, which is consistent with the most potent anticancer activity of 5. We showed that the IrIII cyclopentadienyl and the RuII arene complexes catalyzed the NAD+/NADH hydride transfer reactions eﬀectively. RhIII derivative can drive enzymatic reactions relying on NADH as a cofactor.60 The large downﬁeld shift of the Ir−H peak in [(η5-Cp*)Ir(P^P)H]+ is notable compared to −11.1 ppm for [(η5-Cp*)Ir(phen)(H)]+.61 The TON of complex 5 (15.5) is about 2 times that of the halfsandwich IrIII C^N-bound phenylpyridine complex and is much lower than that of the IrIII N^N complex (max. 75).15,18 The good catalytic performance may oﬀer a pathway to the induction of ROS and a redox based MoA. Electrochemical Properties. We performed cyclic voltammetry to further investigate the redox properties of the ligand BINAP and complexes 1 and 5 due to their low IC50 values in DMSO (Figure 4 and Figure S7 in the Supporting by approximately 2.3 times compared to the 3-phenylpropan-1ol (5 vs 3) and about 9 times compared to the 4-phenylbutan1-ol. Reaction with NADH. In a wide range of biocatalyzed processes, coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide NADH and its oxidized form NAD+ play crucial roles. Sadler and co-workers have reported that aqua IrIII cyclopentadienyl complexes can catalytically convert NADH to NAD+ and can produce ROS H2O2 and thus oﬀer an oxidant pathway.15,59 Therefore, reactions between metal complexes 1−5 and NADH were investigated. First, complexes 1 and 5 were chosen again because of their low IC50 values and their reactions with NADH were monitored by 1H NMR. Mixed CD3OD-d4 and D2O (v/v 2:1) was used to enhance the solubility of IrIII/RuII complexes. When NADH (5 mol equiv) was added to the above solution of complexes 1 and 5 (1 mM), new peaks at 8.9, 9.3, and 9.5 ppm corresponding to NAD+ were observed, which indicates NADH was converted into its oxidized form NAD + . Interestingly, a singlet peak at −12.1 and −0.8 ppm, corresponding to the Ru−H and Ir−H hydride peaks, respectively, was observed after 2 h (Figure 3A and Figure S4 Figure 4. Cyclic voltammograms of complexes 1 and 5 in anhydrous DMSO solutions (1 mM), scan rate = 100 mV/s. Information). All complexes were subject to two consecutive scans from 2 to −3 V at a scan rate of 100 mV/s. The two complexes showed similar electrochemical characteristics, and three irreversible reduction processes arose at reduction wave potentials of −2.10, −1.32, and 0.15 V for complex 1 and at −2.00, −1.33, and 0.16 V for complex 5 (Figure 4). The electrochemical data show that complexes with the same p^p ligands have similar CV behaviors. Comparison of the cyclic voltammograms of complexes 1 and 5 and ligand BINAP indicates that the three irreversible waves of complexes 1 and 5 may be assigned to the reduction of the p^p ligand and that the ancillary ligand BINAP has a signiﬁcant eﬀect on the electronic properties of these complexes. Apoptosis Assay. The two most promising complexes with low IC50 values, 1 (iridium) and 5 (ruthenium), are selected to carry out further investigations in order to shed light on their mechanism of action. Apoptosis is a means of programmed cell death. A great deal of metal based anticancer complexes inhibit cell growth via an apoptosis pathway.62 In this work, we tried to investigate whether the cytotoxicity of the complexes 1 and 5 is due to apoptosis. A549 cancer cells were treated by the two complexes at concentrations of 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 × IC50 for 24 h. Annexin V and propidium iodide were used as stain agents, and the treated cells were analyzed by ﬂow cytometry. After 24 h, complex 1 at a concentration of 0.5 × IC50 caused 9.7% and 15.1% of A549 cells in early apoptosis and late apoptosis, respectively (Figure 5 and Table S1 in the Supporting Figure 3. (A) 1H NMR spectra showing reaction of complex 5 (1 mM) in 67% CD3OD-d4 and 33% D2O (v/v) with NADH (5 mol equiv) at 310 K after 10 min and 2 h. Peaks labeled correspond to newly formed Ru−H complex. Inset: the generated Ru−H hydride peak (−12.1 ppm). (B) Left: conversion of NADH (100 μM) to NAD+ by complex 5 (1 μM) in 50% MeOH/50% H2O (v/v) recorded by UV−vis at 298 K for 9 h. Right: TONs of complexes 1−5. in the Supporting Information). Second, we investigated whether these complexes could catalyticallyl convert NADH to NAD+. Complexes 1−5 (1 μM) and NADH (100 μM) were mixed in 50% MeOH/50% H2O (v/v) and monitored by UV− vis at 298 K (Figure 3B and Figure S6 in the Supporting Information). To evaluate the actual catalytic activity, we incubated the 100 μM NADH in a 50% MeOH/50% H2O (v/ v) solution as the control experiments (Figure S5 in the F DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01959 Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX Article Inorganic Chemistry Figure 5. Apoptosis of A549 cancer cells induced by complexes 1 and 5 (concentrations used: 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 × IC50) after 24 h at 310 K. Control: cells untreated. (A) Apoptotic cell death examined by ﬂow cytometry. (B) Bar chart showing cell populations in various phases. Information). At 3 × IC50, cells in an apoptotic phase (early apoptosis + late apoptosis) increased to 57.9%. Interestingly, the ruthenium complex 5 displayed a much stronger ability to induce apoptosis than iridium 1, where 79.1% of A549 cells were in apoptosis at IC50 and 96.5% at 3 × IC50. This result is consistent with their antiproliferative performance. The results suggested that cell death caused by the complexes was induced mainly through apoptosis. Cell Cycle Analysis. Next the eﬀect of complexes 1 and 5 on cell cycle was studied by ﬂow cytometry at 0.25 and 0.5 × IC50 of 1 and 5 over 24 h (Figure 6, Table S2 in the Supporting Information). Upon exposure of the A549 cells to 1 at concentration of 0.5 × IC50, the percentages of cells in the S and Sub-G1 phase increased 4.5% and 6.7%, respectively, suggesting cell cycle disturbing at the S and Sub-G1 phase. The obviously dose-dependent increased subdiploid peak usually correlated to apoptosis (Figure 6A). For complex 5, the percentages of cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle increased from 52.7% to 64.6% at concentration 0.5 × IC50, suggesting an obvious cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase. In addition, a slight apoptosis was observed as reﬂected by the small subdiploid peak (Figure 6A) for complex 5 at 0.5 × IC50. ROS Induction. Excessive generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) often cause cell damage.15,63 In order to examine the ROS levels in A549 cancer cells induced by complexes 1 and 5, ﬂow cytometry analysis was performed (Figure 7, Table S3 in the Supporting Information). The ROS levels were found to be signiﬁcantly increased in cells upon exposure to 1 and 5 for 24 h. Even at 0.25 × IC50, about 68% and 86% of A549 cells were at high ROS levels after exposure to 1 and 5, respectively (Figure 7). Ruthenium complex 5 is a stronger ROS inducer than the iridium complex 1. This result correlates well with their antiproliferative behavior. These observations are consistent with the proposed MoA for 1 and 5, which is based on the disruption of the cellular redox balance.64 The dramatically increased ROS levels contributed to the killing of cancer cells. The increased ROS levels in cells by complexes 1 and 5 may be related to the catalytic conversion of NADH to NAD+. Sadler and co-workers have previously reported the possible chemical mechanisms of induction of ROS induced by iridium complexes, involving catalytic hydride transfer from NADH to iridium complexes to form iridium−hydride complexes and ﬁnally to oxygen to produce the ROS H2O2 as a product.15 ■ CONCLUSION This work seems to be the ﬁrst report of organometallic iridium and ruthenium anticancer complexes containing BINAP as P^P-chelating ligand. We have studied here the eﬀects on the chemical and anticancer activities by varying the Cpx and η6arene ligand in [(η5-Cpx)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 or [(η6-arene)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6. Three X-ray crystal structures were determined. Complexes 1−5 displayed from promising to highly potent antiproliferative activity toward HeLa and A549 cancer cells (Figure 8). Ruthenium complex 5 is the best candidate and is 15 times more potent than clinically used cisplatin toward A549 cells. The anticancer activity can be ﬁne-tuned by changing both metals and the cyclopentadienyl/arene ligands, in the order of Cp* > Cpxbiph and p-cym > bz-BA > bz-PA. Although interaction with ctDNA was observed, DNA possibly is not the main target. The complexes are eﬀective catalysts for the oxidation of NADH to NAD+ using NADH as the hydride source. This may induce ROS in cells. Indeed, complexes 1 and 5 increased ROS levels signiﬁcantly in A549 cells even at low concentration. In addition, the metal complexes 1 and 5 disturbed the cell cycle at the Sub-G1 G DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01959 Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX Article Inorganic Chemistry Figure 6. A549 cell cycle arrest by complexes 1 and 5 (concentrations used: 0.25 and 0.5 × IC50) after 24 h at 310 K. Cell staining: PI. Control: cells untreated. (A) Cell cycle analysis examined by ﬂow cytometry. (B) Bar chart showing cell populations in various cell cycles. Figure S8, complexes 1−5 are shown in Figures S10−S14 in the Supporting Information. Synthesis of Ligand 3′-(2,5-dihydrophenyl)propanol. A solution of 3-phenylpropan-1-ol (3.00 g, 22 mmol) in ethanol (10 mL) was slowly added to a stirred, cooled solution of ammonia (250 mL) at −78 °C. Small pieces of sodium were added to the reaction mixture until the blue colored persisted. During the addition of sodium, a small amount of ethanol was added to facilitate stirring. After the addition of sodium over the course of 4 h, the reaction mixture was left overnight to evaporate ammonia. The reaction was quenched carefully with ammonium chloride (sat., 100 mL), and extracted by DCM (3 × 25 mL). The combined organic layer was dried over magnesium sulfate, ﬁltered and concentrated under reduced pressure to aﬀord colorless oil (2.80 g, 92% yield). 1H NMR (500 MHz, DMSO) δ 5.98 (d, J = 5.8 Hz, 1H), 5.74 (dd, J = 10.8, 5.7 Hz, 2H), 4.43 (t, J = 5.2 Hz, 1H), 3.42 (dd, J = 11.8, 6.3 Hz, 4H), 2.47− 2.40 (m, 2H), 1.60 (dd, J = 10.0, 5.5 Hz, 2H), 1.48 (dd, J = 14.7, 6.7 Hz, 2H). Synthesis of [(η6-bz-PA)RuCl2]2 (dimer 3). The ligand 3′-(2,5dihydrophenyl)propanol (1.06 g,7.65 mmol) and RuCl3 (400 mg, 1.53 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (60 mL) in a dry round-bottom ﬂask equipped with stirrer and nitrogen atmosphere. The reaction mixture was heated to reﬂux for 16 h and subsequently cooled to −18 °C. The precipitate was ﬁltered oﬀ, washed with cold ethanol and pentane (each 2 × 5 mL) and the red brown precipitate was dried in vacuo. Yield: 80% (377.2 mg, 0.61 mmol) 1H NMR (500 MHz, CDCl3) δ 7.32−7.23 (m, 2H), 7.23−7.08 (m, 3H), 3.64 (d, J = 6.5 Hz, 2H), 2.69 (d, J = 7.9 Hz, 2H), 1.91−1.85 (m, 2H), 1.77 (s, 1H). Synthesis of Complexes 1−5. General method: The ligand 2,20bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,10-binaphthyl (BINAP) (0.10 mmol) and phase/S phase and G1 phase, respectively. Additionally, signiﬁcant apoptosis was induced by complexes 1 and 5 in A549 cancer cells. Complex 5 is more eﬀective than complex 1 in the induction of ROS and apoptosis in A549 cells. This trend is consistent with their anticancer activity. Here, we conclude that the cytotoxicity of the complexes may be associated with the redox mechanism of action. This type of metal complex is worth further evaluation as chemotherapeutic agents. ■ EXPERIMENTAL SECTION Materials. Unless otherwise noted, all manipulations were performed using standard Schlenk tube techniques under nitrogen atmosphere. The reagents IrCl3·nH2O (≥99% purity), hydrated RuCl3 ·nH 2 O (≥99% purity), octan-1-ol (≥99%), and NaCl (>99.999%), Nitric acid (72%), 2,3,4,5-tetramethyl-2-cyclopentenone (95%), 1,2,3,4,5-pentamethyl-cyclopentadiene (95%), butyllithium solution (1.6 M in hexane), 2,20-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,10binaphthyl (BINAP) (98%) 4-phenylbutan-1-ol, 3-phenylpropan-1-ol, α-terpinene were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich. CpxbiphH18 were prepared as described. For the biological experiments, BSA, ctDNA, DMEM medium, fetal bovine serum, penicillin/streptomycin mixture, trypsin/EDTA, and phosphate-buﬀered saline (PBS) were purchased from Sangon Biotech. Testing compounds was dissolved in DMSO and diluted with the tissue culture medium before use. Syntheses. The 1H NMR (500 MHz, CDCl3) peak integrals of [(η6-bz-PA)RuCl2]2 (dimer 3) are shown in Figure S9 in the Supporting Information. The 1H NMR (500 MHz, DMSO) peak integrals of ligand 3′-(2,5-dihydrophenyl)propanol are shown in H DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01959 Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX Article Inorganic Chemistry Figure 7. Induction of ROS levels in A549 cells by complexes 1 and 5 (concentrations used: 0.25 × IC50) after 24 h at 310 K. (A) ROS levels analysis examined by ﬂow cytometry. (B) Bar chart showing cell populations in high/low ROS levels. [(η5-Cp*)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1). Yield: 61.73 mg, 54.6%. 1H NMR (500 MHz, DMSO) δ 7.96 (d, J = 9.0 Hz, 1H), 7.89−7.74 (m, 3H), 7.73− 7.62 (m, 7H), 7.51−7.42 (m, 2H), 7.40−7.30 (m, 2H), 7.27−6.97 (m, 11H), 6.96−6.81 (m, 4H), 6.50 (d, J = 8.7 Hz, 1H), 5.93 (d, J = 8.6 Hz, 1H), 1.12 (s, 15H). Anal. Calcd For [(η5-Cp*)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1130.53): C, 57.37; H, 4.19; P, 8.22; Found: C, 57.45; H, 4.30; P, 8.35. MS: m/z 951.13 [(η5-Cp*)Ir(P^P) + H]+. [(η5-Cpxbiph)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 (2). Yield: 66.23 mg, 52.2%. 1H NMR (500 MHz, DMSO) δ 7.96 (d, J = 10.0 Hz, 1H), 7.93−7.79 (m, 5H), 7.70 (d, J = 8.3 Hz, 4H), 7.66−7.52 (m, 5H), 7.46 (dd, J = 11.8, 7.7 Hz, 3H), 7.40−7.02 (m, 13H), 6.87 (ddd, J = 32.0, 18.2, 9.4 Hz, 8H), 6.53 (dd, J = 9.6, 3.6 Hz, 2H), 5.94 (d, J = 8.1 Hz, 1H), 1.76−1.58 (m, 6H), 0.97 (s, 3H), 0.79 (s, 3H). Anal. Calcd For [(η5-Cpxbiph)Ir(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1268.70): C, 61.54; H, 4.21; P, 7.32; Found: C, 61.65; H, 4.13; P, 7.41. MS: m/z 1089.30 [(η5-Cpxbiph)Ir(P^P) + H]+. [(η6-bz-PA)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (3). Yield: 64.71 mg, 62.2%. 1H NMR (500 MHz, DMSO) δ 7.86 (d, J = 8.8 Hz, 2H), 7.79 (d, J = 8.2 Hz, 1H), 7.76−7.56 (m, 9H), 7.52−7.13 (m, 12H), 6.99 (dt, J = 25.7, 8.5 Hz, 3H), 6.85 (t, J = 6.7 Hz, 2H), 6.41 (d, J = 8.7 Hz, 1H), 6.16 (d, J = 6.5 Hz, 1H), 5.84 (t, J = 6.1 Hz, 2H), 5.74 (dd, J = 9.6, 5.6 Hz, 1H), 4.86−4.80 (m, 1H), 4.59 (t, J = 6.5 Hz, 2H), 3.43−3.37 (m, 2H), 2.60 (dd, J = 10.4, 5.4 Hz, 1H), 2.36−2.29 (m, 1H), 1.71−1.60 (m, 2H). Anal. Calcd For [(η6-bz-PA)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1040.35): C, 61.19; H, 4.26; O, 1.54; P, 8.93; Found: C, 61.06; H, 4.25; O, 1.59; P, 8.84. MS: m/z 859.95 [(η6-bz-PA)Ru(P^P)]+. [(η6-bz-BA) Ru (P^P)Cl]PF6 (4). Yield: 58.20 mg, 55.2%. 1H NMR (500 MHz, DMSO) δ 7.92−7.85 (m, 2H), 7.79 (d, J = 8.4 Hz, 1H), 7.69 (dd, J = 22.4, 7.9 Hz, 7H), 7.53−7.12 (m, 12H), 7.04−6.83 (m, 4H), 6.62−6.54 (m, 1H), 6.41 (d, J = 8.4 Hz, 1H), 6.16 (d, J = 6.3 Hz, 1H), 5.85 (dd, J = 10.0, 4.2 Hz, 2H), 5.75−5.68 (m, 1H), 4.85 (t, J = Figure 8. IC50 values of the complexes studied in this work toward A549 and HeLa cancer cells after an incubation of 24 h. metal dimer [(η5-Cpx)IrCl2]2 or [(η6-arene)RuCl2]2 (0.05 mmol) was dissolved in methanol in a dry round-bottom ﬂask equipped with stirrer and nitrogen atmosphere. After constant stirring for 4 h, NH4PF6 (0.2 mmol) was added at room temperature. The reaction mixture was stirred for 20 h at room temperature, and the progress of reaction was monitored by TLC. After complete conversion, methanol was removed under reduced pressure and product was dissolved in dichloromethane and ﬁltered through Celite ﬁltration funnel and recrystallized by slow diﬀusion of n-hexane in a concentrated solution of the compound in dichloromethane to obtain the corresponding complexes (1−5). I DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01959 Inorg. Chem. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX Article Inorganic Chemistry 5.0 Hz, 1H), 4.58 (d, J = 5.9 Hz, 2H), 4.39 (dt, J = 30.6, 5.0 Hz, 2H), 2.60−2.54 (m, 1H), 2.46−2.42 (m, 1H), 2.28 (dt, J = 10.3, 6.7 Hz, 2H), 1.60−1.50 (m, 2H), 1.46−1.37 (m, 2H). Anal. Calcd For [(η6-bzBA)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1054.38): C, 61.51; H, 4.40; O, 1.52; P, 8.81; Found: C, 61.43; H, 4.36; O,1.58; P, 8.73; MS: m/z 874.98 [(η6-bzBA)Ru(P^P) + H]+. [((η6 -p-cym)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (5). Yield: 60.54 mg 58.3%. 1H NMR (500 MHz, DMSO) δ 7.96 (s, 2H), 7.79 (d, J = 8.6 Hz, 2H), 7.77− 7.64 (m, 5H), 7.60 (t, J = 9.0 Hz, 2H), 7.48−7.09 (m, 9H), 7.02−6.91 (m, 2H), 6.90−6.85 (m, 1H), 6.84−6.73 (m, 2H), 6.35 (dd, J = 31.6, 7.9 Hz, 4H), 5.83 (d, J = 6.3 Hz, 2H), 5.77 (d, J = 9.1 Hz, 1H), 4.52 (d, J = 7.1 Hz, 2H), 4.32 (d, J = 4.1 Hz, 2H), 2.97−2.92 (m, 1H), 1.76 (s, 3H), 1.31 (d, J = 6.9 Hz, 3H), 0.95 (d, J = 6.7 Hz, 3H). Anal. Calcd For [((η6-p-cym)Ru(P^P)Cl]PF6 (1038.38): C, 62.46; H, 4.47; P, 8.95; Found: C, 62.45; H, 4.48; P, 8.93. MS: m/z 858.98 [((η6-pcym)Ru(P^P) + H]+. ■ chelated imino-pyridyl ligands that are selectively toxic to cancer cells. Chem. Commun. 2017, 53, 12810−12813. (7) Leung, C.-H.; Zhong, H.-J.; Chan, D. S.-H.; Ma, D.-L. Bioactive iridium and rhodium complexes as therapeutic agents. Coord. Chem. Rev. 2013, 257, 1764−1776. (8) Albada, B.; Metzler-Nolte, N. Organometallic−Peptide Bioconjugates: Synthetic Strategies and Medicinal Applications. Chem. 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Experimental details; Figures S1−S14; and Tables S1−S3 (PDF) Accession Codes CCDC 1562301−1562303 contain the supplementary crystallographic data for this paper. These data can be obtained free of charge via www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/data_request/cif, or by emailing data_request@ccdc.cam.ac.uk, or by contacting The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, 12 Union Road, Cambridge CB2 1EZ, UK; fax: +44 1223 336033. ■ AUTHOR INFORMATION Corresponding Author *E-mail: liuzheqd@163.com. ORCID Zhe Liu: 0000-0001-5796-4335 Notes The authors declare no competing ﬁnancial interest. ■ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21671118) and the Taishan Scholars Program for support. We thank Dr Abraha Habtemariam for stimulating discussions. ■ REFERENCES (1) Rosenberg, B.; Vancamp, L.; Trosko, J. E.; Mansour, V. H. Platinum compounds: a new class of potent antitumour agents. Nature 1969, 222, 385. (2) Medici, S.; Peana, M.; Nurchi, V. M.; Lachowicz, J. 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