Project Title
Water-Soluble Ruthenium Complexes and Nanoparticles for Catalysis and Tumor Targeting
Internal ID
32550
Principal Investigator
Status
Completed
Start Date
January 1, 2013
End Date
December 31, 2015
Organisations
Identifiants
Keywords
Anticancer properties Hectorite support Water-soluble organometallics Magnetite support Catalysis Ruthenium Nanoparticles
Description
The present research project focuses on the synthesis and characterization of water-soluble ruthenium complexes and ruthenium nanoparticles, with the aim of exploiting their inherent catalytic or biological potential.
Background
Although being the cheapest of all noble metals, ruthenium had almost no industrial applications until recently. It was only scarcely used in catalytic reactions, until the discovery of highly enantioselective ruthenium-based hydrogenation catalysts by Noyori and of efficient ruthenium-based olefin metathesis catalysts by Grubbs; these major discoveries led to the Nobel prizes of 2001 and 2005. On the other hand, the development of dye-sensitized solar cells on the basis of ruthenium complexes by Grätzel, awarded by the Millenium Technology Prize 2010, showed ruthenium to be interesting for light-harvesting processes. In addition, ruthenium turned out to be the most promising metal to replace platinum in the chemotherapy of cancer, following the landmark discoveries of Keppler and Sava. All these recent findings stimulated the coordination chemistry of ruthenium, which has now become one of the most interesting metals for future applications.
Aim
Within this project, we propose to work on three main topics involving a PhD student and a post-doctoral research associate: Highly Cytotoxic Dinuclear Arene Ruthenium Complexes Containing Thiolato Bridges, Catalysis with Hectorite- or Magnetite-Supported Ruthenium Nanoparticles, Photodynamic Porphyrin and Chlorin Conjugates of Trinuclear Ruthenium Complexes
Significance
While water-soluble organometallics in general are still very rare, arene ruthenium complexes with this particular property, the chemistry of which we have pioneered, open new perspectives for use as catalysts in aqueous solution and as potential anticancer drugs.
Background
Although being the cheapest of all noble metals, ruthenium had almost no industrial applications until recently. It was only scarcely used in catalytic reactions, until the discovery of highly enantioselective ruthenium-based hydrogenation catalysts by Noyori and of efficient ruthenium-based olefin metathesis catalysts by Grubbs; these major discoveries led to the Nobel prizes of 2001 and 2005. On the other hand, the development of dye-sensitized solar cells on the basis of ruthenium complexes by Grätzel, awarded by the Millenium Technology Prize 2010, showed ruthenium to be interesting for light-harvesting processes. In addition, ruthenium turned out to be the most promising metal to replace platinum in the chemotherapy of cancer, following the landmark discoveries of Keppler and Sava. All these recent findings stimulated the coordination chemistry of ruthenium, which has now become one of the most interesting metals for future applications.
Aim
Within this project, we propose to work on three main topics involving a PhD student and a post-doctoral research associate: Highly Cytotoxic Dinuclear Arene Ruthenium Complexes Containing Thiolato Bridges, Catalysis with Hectorite- or Magnetite-Supported Ruthenium Nanoparticles, Photodynamic Porphyrin and Chlorin Conjugates of Trinuclear Ruthenium Complexes
Significance
While water-soluble organometallics in general are still very rare, arene ruthenium complexes with this particular property, the chemistry of which we have pioneered, open new perspectives for use as catalysts in aqueous solution and as potential anticancer drugs.