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A highly luminescent tetrahydrocurcumin Ir(III) complex with remarkable photoactivated anticancer activity

Dragonetti, Claudia; Colombo, Alessia; Fontani, Mattia; Roberto, Dominique; Williams, Gareth; Scotto di Perrotolo, Rossella; Casagrande, Francesca; Barozzi, Sara; Polo, Simona

A highly luminescent tetrahydrocurcumin Ir(III) complex with remarkable photoactivated anticancer activity Thumbnail


Authors

Claudia Dragonetti

Alessia Colombo

Mattia Fontani

Dominique Roberto

Rossella Scotto di Perrotolo

Francesca Casagrande

Sara Barozzi

Simona Polo



Abstract

Curcumin has chemopreventive properties against a variety of tumours, but it has poor bioavailability. Two new bis‐cyclometallated iridium(III) complexes have been prepared, featuring the natural product curcumin (CUR) or its reduced form, tetrahydrocurcumin (THC), as bidentate, anionic O^O‐binding ligands. The iridium THC complex is highly luminescent in deoxygenated solution and efficiently generates singlet oxygen under aerated conditions, whereas in the curcumin analogue, other non‐radiative decay pathways are competitive. The complexes are rapidly taken up into a variety of human tumour cell lines from solutions of micromolar concentration. They have negligible cytotoxicity in the absence of irradiation. When briefly irradiated by visible light, Ir‐THC becomes highly phototoxic, inducing rapid apoptosis within 2 h. The results show the high potential of such complexes as sensitizers in photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Citation

Dragonetti, C., Colombo, A., Fontani, M., Roberto, D., Williams, G., Scotto di Perrotolo, R., …Polo, S. (2019). A highly luminescent tetrahydrocurcumin Ir(III) complex with remarkable photoactivated anticancer activity. Chemistry - A European Journal, 25(33), 7948-7952. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201901527

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 15, 2019
Online Publication Date May 13, 2019
Publication Date Jun 12, 2019
Deposit Date Apr 16, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Chemistry - A European Journal
Print ISSN 0947-6539
Electronic ISSN 1521-3765
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 25
Issue 33
Pages 7948-7952
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201901527

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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Dragonetti, Claudia, Colombo, Alessia, Fontani, Mattia, Roberto, Dominique, Williams, Gareth, Scotto di Perrotolo, Rossella, Casagrande, Francesca, Barozzi, Sara & Polo, Simona (2019). A highly luminescent tetrahydrocurcumin Ir(III) complex with remarkable photoactivated anticancer activity. Chemistry – A European Journal 25(33): 7948-7952 which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201901527. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.





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