Development of tris-cyclometalated iridium complexes for cellular imaging through structural modification

Abstract

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Potent anticancer activity of a novel iridium metallodrug via oncosis

“…First, the third ligand was replaced by an N^N ligand to change from neutral to a positively charged complex. The prospect of using a cationic cyclometalated iridium(III) compound is desirable since electronic-neutral molecules generally exhibit low water solubility, which usually hampers cell uptake [ 14 , 22 ]. On the other hand, our previous results with bis-cyclometalated iridium(III) compounds demonstrated that slight modifications on benzimidazole-based C^N ligand core rendered high anticancer activities in vitro [ 23 ].…”

Shining New Light on Biological Systems: Luminescent Transition Metal Complexes for Bioimaging and Biosensing Applications

“…Furthermore, a water-soluble iridium(III) complex carrying two morpholine units ( 275 ) has been developed for lysosome-targeted imaging and PDT . Kielar and co-workers have demonstrated that iridium(III) complexes containing a pH-sensitive aminoalkyl moiety ( 276 and 277 ) can also specifically target the lysosomes. − …”