10.1021/ic401529u
This study investigated the potential of rhodium, iridium, and ruthenium half-sandwich complexes containing (N,N)-bound picolinamide ligands as anticancer agents. Picolinamide plays a crucial role as a ligand in the synthesis of rhodium, iridium, and ruthenium half-sandwich complexes. The picolinamide ligand binds to the metal center (N,N) to form a neutral 18-electron species. This study aimed to optimize the design and potency of these organometallic complexes by exploring the effects of different halide substituents on their anticancer activities. The presence, position, and number of halides significantly affected the IC50 values ??of the complexes. Notably, one ruthenium complex (compound 12) was more cytotoxic than cisplatin against HT-29 and MCF-7 cells under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions, making it a promising candidate for in vivo studies. The study also explored the inhibitory effects of the complexes on thioredoxin reductase 1 (Trx-R) and found that the iridium and rhodium complexes were potent inhibitors, while the ruthenium complex was not, suggesting a different mechanism of action. Future work will focus on further in vivo studies and evaluating the effects of the compounds on normal tissues.
10.1039/c9ra01180c
The research focuses on the enantioselective conjugate hydrosilylation of β,β-disubstituted α,β-unsaturated ketones, utilizing chiral picolinamide–sulfonate Lewis base catalysts. The main objective was to synthesize various chiral ketones with a chiral center at the β-position, which are crucial intermediates for natural products and chiral drugs. The experiments involved screening different chiral Lewis base catalysts for the hydrosilylation of (E)-1,3-diphenylbut-2-en-1-one in acetonitrile at 0°C, and optimizing reaction conditions such as solvents and temperature to achieve the best yield and enantioselectivity. The reactants included α,β-unsaturated ketones, trichlorosilane, and the selected catalyst 2f. The analyses used to determine the success of the reactions and the enantiomeric excess (ee) of the products were chiral high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.