Coupling diruthenium trithiolato complexes with biomolecules for enhancing water solubility and cellular uptake
(F. Giannini, J. Furrer in collaboration with the group of Prof. Reymond)
The problem of these ruthenium complexes is their poor water solubility, which may negatively influence their cellular uptake.
A way to tackle this problem is to couple the complexes to other moieties that are stable, water soluble and having good cell-penetrating properties. In this way, we hope to increase or at least to preserve the high cytotoxicity of the complexes while increasing their water solubility and cellular uptake. An attractive possibility is given by peptide dendrimers, a type of topology not found in nature. Peptide dendrimers are identical to natural proteins in terms of their composition, however their topology induces a range of novel and potentially useful properties. For instance, peptide dendrimers have a globular conformation without the need for folding, are generally non-toxic, are remarkably resistant to degradation by proteases, and were shown to be excellent cell-penetrating entities.
