Water-soluble carboranyl-phthalocyanines for BNCT. Synthesis, characterization, and in vitro tests of the Zn(II)-nido-carboranyl-hexylthiophthalocyanine

Dalton Trans. 2015 Jun 28;44(24):11021-8. doi: 10.1039/c5dt00394f. Epub 2015 May 21.

Abstract

The zinc(II) complex of the octa-anionic 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-octakis-(7-methyl-7,8-dicarba-nido-undeca-boran-8-yl)hexyl-thio-6,13,20,27-phthalocyanine (nido-[ZnMCHESPc]Cs8, 7) has been obtained in the form of caesium salt through mild deboronation of the neutral precursor, the closo-[ZnMCHESPc] complex, 6, with CsF. 6 has been synthesized, in turn, by heating a finely ground mixture of the appropriate phthalonitrile and zinc(II) acetate at 180.0 °C. The complexes have been characterized by elemental analyses, FT-IR, UV-visible absorption and fluorescence emission spectroscopy, and their structures were assessed by (1)H, (13)C, (11)B, and two-dimensional homo- and hetero-correlated NMR spectroscopy experiments. 7 showed appreciable solubility in water solution, together with a marked tendency to aggregate. Aggregation of 7 in the hydrotropic medium resulted in significant fluorescence quenching. Instead, fluorescence quantum yields (Φ(F)) of 0.14 and 0.08, and singlet oxygen quantum yields (Φ(Δ)) of 0.63 and 0.24 were obtained for 6 and 7, respectively, in a DMF solution. In vitro boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) experiments, employing boron imaging techniques as implemented in qualitative and quantitative neutron autoradiography methods, showed that 7 is capable of increasing the boron concentration of two selected cancerous cell lines, the DHD/K12/TRb of rat colon adenocarcinoma and UMR-106 of rat osteosarcoma, with the large-size Cs(+) counter-ions used to neutralize the negatively charged carborane polyhedra not presenting a significant obstacle to the process. Taken together, BNCT and photophysical measurement results indicated that 7 is potentially suitable for bimodal or multimodal anticancer therapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Boron Compounds / chemical synthesis
  • Boron Compounds / chemistry*
  • Boron Compounds / pharmacology*
  • Boron Neutron Capture Therapy
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Coordination Complexes / chemical synthesis
  • Coordination Complexes / chemistry
  • Coordination Complexes / pharmacology
  • Indoles / chemical synthesis
  • Indoles / chemistry*
  • Indoles / pharmacology*
  • Isoindoles
  • Neoplasms / radiotherapy*
  • Rats
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
  • Water / chemistry
  • Zinc / chemistry*
  • Zinc / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Boron Compounds
  • Coordination Complexes
  • Indoles
  • Isoindoles
  • Water
  • Zinc
  • phthalocyanine