Volume 19, Issue 47 pp. 15924-15932
Full Paper

Cyclometalated Iridium(III) Complexes with Deoxyribose Substituents

Ayan Maity

Ayan Maity

Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland Ohio 44106 (USA)

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Dr. Jung-Suk Choi

Dr. Jung-Suk Choi

Department of Chemistry, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115 (USA)

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Dr. Thomas S. Teets

Dr. Thomas S. Teets

Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (USA)

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Dr. Nihal Deligonul

Dr. Nihal Deligonul

Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland Ohio 44106 (USA)

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Prof. Dr. Anthony J. Berdis

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Anthony J. Berdis

Department of Chemistry, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115 (USA)

Anthony J. Berdis, Department of Chemistry, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115 (USA)===

Thomas G. Gray, Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland Ohio 44106 (USA)===

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Prof. Dr. Thomas G. Gray

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Thomas G. Gray

Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland Ohio 44106 (USA)

Anthony J. Berdis, Department of Chemistry, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115 (USA)===

Thomas G. Gray, Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland Ohio 44106 (USA)===

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First published: 08 October 2013
Citations: 27

Graphical Abstract

Glow and tell: The study of enzymatic nucleoside transport suffers for lack of optical probes that can be tracked noninvasively. Presented here are nucleoside analogues in which emissive, cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes are “clicked” to C-1 of deoxyribose in place of canonical nucleobases (see picture). The resulting complexes show visible luminescence at room temperature and 77 K with microsecond-length triplet lifetimes.

Abstract

Fundamental study of enzymatic nucleoside transport suffers for lack of optical probes that can be tracked noninvasively. Nucleoside transporters are integral membrane glycoproteins that mediate the salvage of nucleosides and their passage across cell membranes. The substrate recognition site is the deoxyribose sugar, often with little distinction among nucleobases. Reported here are nucleoside analogues in which emissive, cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes are “clicked” to C-1 of deoxyribose in place of canonical nucleobases. The resulting complexes show visible luminescence at room temperature and 77 K with microsecond-length triplet lifetimes. A representative complex is crystallographically characterized. Transport and luminescence are demonstrated in cultured human carcinoma (KB3-1) cells.