Encapsulation de complexes d’Ir(III) et Rh(III) ciblant les G-quadruplex

Details

Supervisors

Elias, Benjamin

Faculty

Faculté des sciences

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences chimiques, à finalité spécialisée: chimie de l'industrie

Abstract

enCancer currently represents one of the major cause of death worldwide. In 2022, around 20 million new cases were reported causing approximately 9.7 million deaths according to the latest data from the World Health Organization. In Europe, this problem is even more worrying because the continent is undergoing an important aging of the population which leads to an increase in the number of cancer cases. For decades, research has focused on developing treatments to stop this phenomenon. The first treatments developed were chemotherapy treatments using chemical agents and these are still studied today. However, these treatments often lack selectivity, which causes many side effects. To solve this problem, new therapies have been developed such as photodynamic therapy (PDT). PDT is based on the use of photoactivatable agents allowing to selectively choose the area to treat by irradiation. In this thesis, new rhodium(III) and iridium(III) metal complexes were synthesized, based on the work of Justin Weynand, PhD student in the lab of Professor Benjamin Elias. In his research, he developed new mononuclear and dinuclear ruthenium(II)-based metal complexes that showed good efficiency to induce the death of cancer cells by photo-oxidation during in cellulo studies. By replacing the ruthenium(II) center with iridium(III) and rhodium(III), the goal is to take advantage of their better photo-oxidation ability which can be easily tuned by changing the ancillary ligands. Another part of this work is the encapsulation of these complexes in a polymer matrix. One goal of this encapsulation is to reduce the quantity of agent to administer. In fact, chemotherapy agents are often eliminated by the detoxifying organs of the body such as the liver and kidneys. By encapsulating the complexes in nanometer-sized capsules, the body’s detoxification and filtration mechanisms can be avoided. Thus, six new rhodium(III) and iridium(III) complexes were synthesized, characterized, and encapsulated before being used in cellulo to evaluate their cytotoxicity.