Photocytotoxicity and DNA cleavage activity of L-arg and L-lys Schiff base oxovanadium(IV) complexes having phenanthroline bases.

Oxovanadium(IV) complexes [VO(sal-argH)(B)]Cl (1-3) and [VO(sal-lysH)(B)]Cl (4-6), where sal-argH2 and sal-lysH2 are N-salicylidene-L-arginine and N-salicylidene-L-lysine Schiff bases and B is a phenanthroline base, viz. 1,10-phenanthroline (phen in 1 and 4); dipyrido[3,2-d:2',3'-f]quinoxaline (dpq in 2 and 5) and dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine (dppz in 3 and 6), have been prepared, characterized and their DNA photocleavage activity studied. Complex 1, characterized by X-ray crystallography, shows the presence of a vanadyl group in V(IV)O3N3 coordination geometry with a tridentate Schiff base having a pendant guanidinium moiety and bidentate phen ligand. The complexes exhibit a d-d band at 715 nm in 20% DMF-Tris-HCl buffer. The complexes are redox active showing cathodic and anodic responses near -1.0 V and 0.85 V (vs. SCE) for the V(IV)-V(III) and V(V)-V(IV) couples, respectively, in DMF-Tris-HCl buffer. The complexes bind to calf thymus DNA giving Kb values in the range of 3.8 x 10(4) to 1.6 x 10(5) M(-1). Thermal denaturation and viscosity data suggest DNA groove binding nature of the complexes. The complexes do not show any "chemical nuclease" activity in dark in the presence of 3-mercaptopropionic acid or H2O2. The dpq and dppz complexes are efficient photocleavers of plasmid DNA in UV-A (365 nm) and red light (676 nm) via singlet oxygen pathway. The dppz complexes exhibit photocytotoxicity in HeLa cancer cells giving IC50 values of 15.4 microM for 3 and 17.5 microM for 6 in visible light while being non-toxic in dark giving IC50 values of >100 microM.