Bioactivity of Curcuminoids in Half-Sandwich Ru(II), Rh(III) and Ir(III) Complexes: benefits from cooking to medicine

Curcumin has been used for centuries in Asia as a spice, natural colouring and traditional medicine owing to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antitumoral effects [1]. An alternative strategy to improve the properties of curcumin, without the need to modify the drug, is its incorporation into metal complexes [2]. Ruthenium compounds have emerged in recent years as promising alternatives to platinum drugs by displaying specific activities against different cancers, favorable toxicity and clearance properties [3]. Recently, also metal complexes based on Rhodium and Iridium have arisen as fascinating potential alternative metallodrugs [4]. In the present work we exploit the coordination chemistry of Ru(II) arene and pentamethylcyclopentadienyl Rh(III) and Ir(III) complexes with curcumin [5] and bisdemethoxycurcumin as co-ligands and full characterization of relative RAPTA type complexes with 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane ligand (PTA) [6]. Hydrolysis studies were carried out under pseudopharmacological conditions to evaluate their aqueous chemistry. The antiproliferative effects in two human ovarian cancer cell lines (A2780 and A2780cisR) and non-tumorigenic human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293) will be reported.