Design, synthesis and characterisation of ruthenium complexes as medicinal therapeutic agents

This thesis is concerned with the design, synthesis and characterisation of a series of trans-dichloride bis-quinaldamide ruthenium (III) complexes. The anti-cancer, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties were investigated, with the lead compounds undergoing further chemical and biological mechanistic studies. Chapter 1 presents an overview of metal complexes as therapeutic agents, their interaction with DNA and project aims. Chapter 2 discusses the synthesis and characterisation of the novel quinaldamide ligands. Chapter 3 is focused on the synthesis and characterisation of the trans-dichloride ruthenium (III) complexes that displayed promising anti-cancer results. Chapter 4 discusses the biological evaluation of the ruthenium complexes under normoxia conditions. Lead compounds are analysed to a wider panel of cell lines and hypoxia conditions. Two outperforming compounds were taken for further mechanistic studies. Anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties are also discussed. Chapter 5 contains the chemical investigations (hydrolysis and hydrophobicity) of selected compounds. Chapter 6 contains experimental details and characterisation data for all the compounds described in Chapters 2 and 3. All the protocols for the studies discussed in Chapter 4, and all experimental details of Chapter 5. Chapter 7 summaries this thesis and the future work. Appendix includes a summary of the x-ray crystallographic data for the crystalline compounds found in this work.