Date of Award
2022
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Chemistry
Abstract
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world with over 10 million people dying of the disease every year. Inorganic complexes supported by platinum metal centers are often used in cancer treatment. However, these complexes lack selectivity for tumor cells. As such, other alternatives to platinum have been explored. Ruthenium (Ru) complexes are one of the most promising candidates due to their ability to be used as photosensitizing drugs in photodynamic therapy. Herein, we report the design, synthesis, and characterization of two novel ruthenium-based complexes. One compound is a Ru(II) homoleptic complex, while the other is a mononuclear Ru(II) complex that features an open coordination site. To probe the structural and electronic properties of these complexes, we used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, UV-visible spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. Future work for this project involves measuring whether our complexes can generate singlet-oxygen in vitro upon irradiation with light.
Recommended Citation
Dine, Keit, "Synthesis and Characterization of Ruthenium Complexes and Their Potential and Photosensitizers for Photodynamic Therapy" (2022). Master's Theses. 4404.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/4404
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2022 Keit Dine
