Inorganic Metal Complex-Biomolecule Aggregates to Model Photo-pharmacueticals
Photoactivated chemotherapy (PACT) offers both temporal and spatial control over drug activation and has considerable potential for future treatments of cancer.
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We are investigating metal complex-nucleobase clusters as model systems for identifying fundamental photochemical processes occurring in PACT anti-cancer platinum drug therapies that target DNA. For example, isolated molecular clusters of adenine, cytosine, thymine and uracil bound to hexachloroplatinate, PtCl62-, have been studied using laser electronic photodissociation spectroscopy to investigate photoactivation of a platinum complex in the vicinity of a nucleobase.
This is the first study to explore the specific role of a strongly photoactive platinum compound within an aggregate complex. Our results demonstrate how wavelength-dependent selective photoexcitation can drive distinctive photodecay channels for a model photo-pharmaceutical. Such studies provide critical benchmarking data for developing QM/MM methodologies for modelling photoactive metal complex-biomolecule interactions and have the potential to provide a route for facile screening of possible photopharmaceuticals.
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Current work involves extending these studies to metal-complex-oligonucleotide ensembles.