New water-soluble copper (II) complexes including 4,7-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline and L-tyrosine: synthesis, characterization, DNA interactions and cytotoxicities.

Two new water-soluble copper(II) complexes, [Cu(dmphen)2(NO3)]NO3 (1), [Cu(dmphen)(tyr)(H2O)]NO3·H2O (2) and the diquarternary salt of dmphen (dmphen = 4,7-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline and tyr = L-tyrosine), have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR and IR spectroscopy, thermal analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. The CT-DNA binding properties of these compounds have been investigated by absorption, emission spectroscopy and thermal denaturation measurements. The supercoiled pBR322 plasmid DNA cleavage activity of these compounds has been explored by agarose gel electrophoresis. The cytotoxicity of these compounds against MCF-7, Caco-2, A549 cancer cells and BEAS-2B healthy cells was also studied by the XTT method. Complexes 1 and 2 exhibit significant cytotoxicity, with lower IC50 values than those of cisplatin.