• biosubstrates interaction
• halide ligand
• Ruthenium arene
• analytical techniques
• binding mechanism
• equilibria

Ruthenium compounds are widely studied for their anticancer activity as
alternatives to platinum drugs, to overcome several side effects and
drug resistance. More specifically, Ru(II)-arene complexes have aroused
considerable attention because of their fair stability in aqueous
solution and the possibility to use different ancillary ligands to
modulate the pharmacological properties.
In this work, we have first synthesised and characterised novel
ruthenium arene complexes with potential anticancer activity.
The new compounds were synthesized by linking the ruthenium-arene
scaffold to bidentate amino-acidato and also monodentate ligands; their
speciation and stability in water and in the biological medium were
evaluated.
After the synthetic part, an in-depth analysis of the binding mechanism
of some ruthenium α-diimine compounds with biosubstrates was done. Both
Bovine Serum Albumin and DNA were investigated. Studies for the
determination of thermodynamic parameters were performed by means of
different techniques: UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence
spectroscopy, gel electrophoresis and viscometry.
Part of the work was conducted at the University of Burgos, joining the
research team of Prof. Begoña García Ruiz for three months, in
particular concerning in vitro cytotoxicity tests of the α-diimine
complexes