Barriers to Internal Rotation and Conformational Behaviour of the MESO and D,L Isomers of Pt(II) Complexes with Antitumour Activity

Abstract

The conformational behaviour of a series of ring substituted (ortho-Cl, F and meta or para OH) Pt(II) complexes of general formula (1,2-hydroxyphenyl)ethylenediamine]PtL₂ L ? Cl, 1] has been studied by molecular mechanics (MM) methods. Preferred orientations of the phenyl rings, which are important for the complexes′ biological activity, were obtained by calculations of rotational energies about C_sp3?C_ar bonds for all theoretically possible isomers and conformers, meso-λ (R,S/S,R-λ), meso-δ (R,S/S,R-δ), d,l-δ (S,S/R,R-λ) and d,l-λ (S,S/R, R-δ). The influence of the ring substituents and the conformation type on the positions of the energy minima and barriers to rotations about C_sp3?C_ar and C_ar-O(H) bonds were investigated in detail. Theoretical predictions were compared with the experimental results where appropriate.