New combination chemotherapy of cisplatin with an electron-donating compound for treatment of multiple cancers

Cisplatin is the first and most widely used platinum-based chemotherapy drug and is the cornerstone agent in treating a broad spectrum of cancers. However, its clinical application is often limited by severe toxic side effects and drug resistance. Based on the discovered dissociative electron transfer mechanism of cisplatin, a novel combination of cisplatin with [9-(2-carboxyphenyl)-6-diethylamino-3-xanthenylidene]-diethylammonium chloride (basic violet 10, BV10) is proposed to potentiate the chemotherapeutic effect of cisplatin. Here, we show that this combination enhances the anti-cancer effect of cisplatin in both in vitro cell lines and in vivo xenograft mouse models of cisplatin-sensitive and -resistant lung, ovarian and cervical cancers while introducing minimal additional toxic side effects. Furthermore, femtosecond time-resolved laser spectroscopic measurements demonstrate that cisplatin reacts with BV10 via an electron transfer mechanism. These results indicate that the combination of cisplatin with BV10 is promising for improving the chemotherapy of cancers with various extents of cisplatin resistance.

Dissociative electron transfer of copper(ii) complexes of glycyl(glycyl/alanyl)tryptophan in vacuo: IRMPD action spectroscopy provides evidence of transition from zwitterionic to non-zwitterionic peptide structures

Non-zwitterionic π-centered [GGWπ]˙+ is formed from zwitterionic [CuII(dien)GGW]˙2+ through dissociative one-electron transfer involving proton and unpaired electron migrations.

Formation of n → π+ interaction facilitating dissociative electron transfer in isolated tyrosine-containing molecular peptide radical cations

IRMPD suggests existence of π-radicals of [FYGG]˙+ featuring the n → π+ interaction, which are reactive intermediates toward dissociative electron transfer.

Electron-transfer reactions of halogenated electrophiles: a different look into the nature of halogen bonding

The rates of oxidation of ferrocene derivatives by brominated molecules R-Br (CBr3CN, CBr4, CBr3NO2, CBr3COCBr3, CBr3CONH2, CBr3F, and CBr3H) were consistent with the predictions of the outer-sphere dissociative electron-transfer theory. The similar redox-reactions of the R-Br electrophiles with the typical halogen-bond acceptors tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPD) or iodide were much faster than calculated using the same model. The fast redox-processes in these systems were related to the involvement of the transient halogen-bonded [R-Br, TMPD] or [R-Br, I−] complexes in which barriers for electron transfer were lowered by the strong electronic coupling of reactants. The Mulliken–Hush treatment of the spectral and structural characteristics of the [R-Br, TMPD] or [R-Br, I−] complexes corroborated the values of coupling elements, Hab, of 0.2–0.5 eV implied by the kinetic data. The Natural Bond Orbital analysis of these complexes indicated a noticeable donor/acceptor charge transfer, Δq, of 0.03–0.09 ē. The Hab and Δq values in the [R-Br, TMPD] and [R-Br, I−] complexes (which are similar to those in the traditional charge-transfer associates) indicate significant contribution of charge-transfer (weakly-covalent) interaction to halogen bonding. The decrease of the barrier for electron transfer between the halogen-bonded reactants demonstrated in the current work points out that halogen bonding should be taken into account in the mechanistic analysis of the reactions of halogenated species.