Terpyridine Glycoconjugates and Their Metal Complexes: Antiproliferative Activity and Proteasome Inhibition

Abstract

Metal terpyridine complexes have gained substantial interest in many application fields, such as catalysis and supramolecular chemistry. In recent years, the biological activity of terpyridine and its metal complexes has aroused considerable regard. On this basis, we synthesised new terpyridine derivatives of trehalose and glucose to improve the water solubility of terpyridine ligands and target them in cancer cells through glucose transporters. Glucose derivative and its copper(II) and iron(II) complexes showed antiproliferative activity. Interestingly, trehalose residue reduced the cytotoxicity of terpyridine. Moreover, we tested the ability of parent terpyridine ligands and their copper complexes to inhibit proteasome activity as an antineoplastic mechanism.

Investigating the Anticancer Properties of Novel Functionalized Platinum(II)–Terpyridine Complexes

“…Inorganics 2024, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 12 derivatives. Similar behavior has been proven for iron and copper complexes of TpyGlc and HAtpy [42,52].…”

“…However, data suggested that the presence of hydrophilic substituents in the tpy moiety leads to a considerable decrease in activity, as in the case of Glc and HA derivatives. Similar behavior has been proven for iron and copper complexes of TpyGlc and HAtpy [42,52].…”

“…A glucose-based complex showed similar behavior (Figure S9). As reported for other metal complexes, the complexation produced a downfield shift of the signals of the moiety [42].…”

“…2,2 ′ :6 ′ ,2 ′′ -Terpyridine (Tpy) and 4 ′ -chloro-2,2 ′ :6 ′ ,2 ′′ -terpyridine (TpyCl) were purchased from TCI (Tokyo, Japan). TpyNH 2 , TpyBio, TpyGlc, and HAtpy were synthesized as reported elsewhere [42,52,53].…”