The interactions of Cu II , Zn II and Fe II with Triapine (3-aminopyridine-2-carbaldehyde thiosemicarbazone), which is currently undergoing phase II clinical trials as a chemotherapeutic antitumour agent, were investigated in a water/DMSO mixture. The proton-dissociation constants of the ligands, the stability constants and the coordination modes of the metal complexes formed were determined by pH-potentiometric, UV/Vis spectrophotometric, EPR, 1 H NMR spectroscopic and ESI-MS methods. Two N-terminally dimethylated derivatives of Triapine were also studied. Mono-and bis-ligand com-[a]

The stoichiometry and stability of copper(II), zinc(II), iron(II)/ (III) and gallium(III) complexes of salicylaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (STSC, H 2 L) have been determined by pH potentiometry, UV/Vis spectrophotometry, and 1 H NMR and EPR spectroscopy in aqueous solution (with 30 % DMSO), together with the characterization of the proton dissociation processes. Mono-and bis-ligand complexes in different protonation states were identified for Fe II , Fe III and Ga III , whereas Cu II and Zn II ions only form complexes with a 1:1 metal/ligand ratio. The coordination mode in the complex [a]

Two enantiomerically pure thiosemicarbazone-proline conjugates with enhanced aqueous solubility, namely, 2-hydroxy-3-methyl-(S)-pyrrolidine-2-carboxylate-5-methylbenzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone [L-Pro-STSC or (S)-H(2)L] and 2-hydroxy-3-methyl-(R)-pyrrolidine-2-carboxylate-5-methylbenzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone [D-Pro-STSC or (R)-H(2)L] have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, spectroscopic methods (UV-vis and (1)H and (13)C NMR), and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The metal complexation behavior of L-Pro-STSC, stoichiometry, and thermodynamic stability of iron(II), iron(III), copper(II), and zinc(II) complexes in 30% (w/w) dimethyl sulfoxide/H(2)O solvent mixture have been studied by pH-potentiometric, UV-vis-spectrophotometric, circular dichroism, electron paramagnetic resonance, (1)H NMR spectroscopic, and spectrofluorimetric measurements. By the reaction of CuCl(2)·2H(2)O with (S)-H(2)L and (R)-H(2)L, respectively, the complexes [Cu[(S)-H(2)L]Cl]Cl and [Cu[(R)-H(2)L]Cl]Cl have been prepared and comprehensively characterized. An X-ray diffraction study of [Cu[(R)-H(2)L]Cl]Cl showed the formation of a square-planar copper(II) complex, which builds up stacks with interplanar separation of 3.3 Å. The antiproliferative activity of two chiral ligands and their corresponding copper(II) complexes has been tested in two human cancer cell lines, namely, SW480 (colon carcinoma) and CH1 (ovarian carcinoma). The thiosemicarbazone-proline conjugates L- and D-Pro-STSC show only moderate cytotoxic potency with IC(50) values of 62 and 75 μM, respectively, in CH1 cells and >100 μM in SW480 cells. However, the corresponding copper(II) complexes are 13 and 5 times more potent in CH1 cells, based on a comparison of IC(50) values, and in SW480 cells the increase in the antiproliferative activity is even higher. In both tested cell lines, L-Pro-STSC as well as its copper(II) complex show slightly stronger antiproliferative activity than the compounds with a D-Pro moiety, yielding IC(50) values of 4.6 and 5.5 μM for [Cu(L-Pro-STSC)Cl]Cl in CH1 and SW480 cells, respectively.

Two proline-thiosemicarbazone bioconjugates with excellent aqueous solubility, namely, 3-methyl-(S)-pyrrolidine-2-carboxylate-2-formylpyridine thiosemicarbazone [L-Pro-FTSC or (S)-H2L] and 3-methyl-(R)-pyrrolidine-2-carboxylate-2-formylpyridine thiosemicarbazone [D-Pro-FTSC or (R)-H2L], have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, one- and two-dimensional (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The complexation behavior of L-Pro-FTSC with copper(II) in an aqueous solution and in a 30% (w/w) dimethyl sulfoxide/water mixture has been studied via pH potentiometry, UV-vis spectrophotometry, electron paramagnetic resonance, (1)H NMR spectroscopy, and spectrofluorimetry. By the reaction of copper(II) acetate with (S)-H2L and (R)-H2L in water, the complexes [Cu(S,R)-L] and [Cu(R,S)-L] have been synthesized and comprehensively characterized. An X-ray diffraction study of [Cu(S,R)-L] showed the formation of a square-pyramidal complex, with the bioconjugate acting as a pentadentate ligand. Both copper(II) complexes displayed antiproliferative activity in CH1 ovarian carcinoma cells and inhibited Topoisomerase IIα activity in a DNA plasmid relaxation assay.

In this study, 2-formylpyridine thiosemicarbazones and three different heterocyclic pharmacophores were combined to prepare thiosemicarbazone–piperazine mPip-FTSC (HL1) and mPip-dm-FTSC (HL2), thiosemicarbazone–morpholine Morph-FTSC (HL3) and Morph-dm-FTSC (HL4), thiosemicarbazone–methylpyrrole-2-carboxylate hybrids mPyrr-FTSC (HL5) and mPyrr-dm-FTSC (HL6) as well as their copper(II) complexes [CuCl(mPipH-FTSC-H)]Cl (1 + H)Cl, [CuCl(mPipH-dm-FTSC-H)]Cl (2 + H)Cl, [CuCl(Morph-FTSC-H)] (3), [CuCl(Morph-dm-FTSC-H)] (4), [CuCl(mPyrr-FTSC-H)(H2O)] (5) and [CuCl(mPyrr-dm-FTSC-H)(H2O)] (6). The substances were characterized by elemental analysis, one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy (HL1–HL6), ESI mass spectrometry, IR and UV–vis spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction (1–5). All compounds were prepared in an effort to generate potential antitumor agents with an improved therapeutic index. In addition, the effect of structural alterations with organic hybrids on aqueous solubility and copper(II) coordination ability was investigated. Complexation of ligands HL2 and HL4 with copper(II) was studied in aqueous solution by pH-potentiometry, UV–vis spectrophotometry and EPR spectroscopy. Proton dissociation processes of HL2 and HL4 were also characterized in detail and microscopic constants for the Z/E isomers were determined. While the hybrids HL5, HL6 and their copper(II) complexes 5 and 6 proved to be insoluble in aqueous solution, precluding antiproliferative activity studies, the thiosemicarbazone–piperazine and thiosemicarbazone–morpholine hybrids HL1–HL4, as well as copper(II) complexes 1–4 were soluble in water enabling cytotoxicity assays. Interestingly, the metal-free hybrids showed very low or even a lack of cytotoxicity (IC50 values > 300 μM) in two human cancer cell lines HeLa (cervical carcinoma) and A549 (alveolar basal adenocarcinoma), whereas their copper(II) complexes were cytotoxic showing IC50 values from 25.5 to 65.1 μM and 42.8 to 208.0 μM, respectively in the same human cancer cell lines after 48 h of incubation. However, the most sensitive for HL4 and complexes 1–4 proved to be the human cancer cell line LS174 (colon carcinoma) as indicated by the calculated IC50 values varying from 13.1 to 17.5 μM.