Ruthenium(III) and iridium(III) complexes with nicotine

• DOI: 10.1016/j.poly.2009.05.082
• Publication Date: 2009-07-04T08:22:17Z
• Authors: Francisca M. Albertí; Juan J. Fiol; Angel García-Raso; Marta Torres; A. Terrón; Miquel Barceló-Ol...; María J. Prieto; Virtudes Moreno; Elies Molins
• Keywords: Pyrrolidine; Cationic polymerization

Abstract A new chloride-dimethylsulfoxide-ruthenium(III) complex with nicotine trans-[RuIIICl4(DMSO)[H-(Nicotine)]] (1) and three related iridium(III) complexes; [H-(Nicotine)]trans-[IrIIICl4(DMSO)2] (2), trans-[IrIIICl4(DMSO)[H-(Nicotine)]] (3) and mer-[IrIIICl3(DMSO)(Nicotine)2] (4) have been synthesized and characterized by spectroscopic techniques and by single crystal X-ray diffraction (1, 2, and 4). Protonated nicotine at pyrrolidine nitrogen is present in complexes 1 and 3 while two neutral nicotine ligands are observed in 4. In these three inner-sphere complexes coordination occurs through the pyridine nitrogen. Moreover, in the outer-sphere complex 2, an electrostatic interaction is observed between a cationic protonated nicotine at the pyrrolidine nitrogen and the anionic trans-[IrIIICl4(DMSO)2]¯ complex. Electrophoretic mobility and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies of the interaction between 1 and 3 complexes and plasmidic DNA pBR322 have been performed. These results show that the Ru(III) complex 1 interacts significantly with plasmidic DNA while a weak interaction is observed with the corresponding Ir(III) complex 3.