Bethany Alicie, Amanda Moore, and Kevin M. Williams
Selected ruthenium complexes have been shown to have anticancer activity, most likely due to interaction with DNA. Ruthenium complexes also are known to react with proteins via histidine residues. We are therefore interested in studying the interaction of selected ruthenium complexes with protein and DNA targets. We have found that a ruthenium(III) compound mixed with glutathione and a heterocyclic ligand in an argon-purged flask can react to form a complex between the ruthenium and the heterocyclic ligand, and previous studies suggest that glutathione reduces the ruthenium(III) as part of the mechanism [Frasca, D.R.; Clarke, M.J. J Am. Chem. Soc., 1999, 121, 8523-8532]. We are determining optimum conditions for the reaction of ruthenium(III) with glutathione and heterocyclic ligands (e.g. histidine) and are utilizing these conditions to characterize adducts by UV-Vis and NMR spectroscopy.