Intracellular Ruthenium-Promoted (2+2+2) Cycloadditions |
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Authors: | Joan Miguel-Ávila Dr. María Tomás-Gamasa Prof. José L. Mascareñas |
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Affiliation: | Centro Singular de Investigación en Química Biolóxica e Materiais Moleculares (CIQUS), Departamento de Química Orgánica, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago, de Compostela, Spain |
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Abstract: | Metal-mediated intracellular reactions are becoming invaluable tools in chemical and cell biology, and hold promise for strongly impacting the field of biomedicine. Most of the reactions reported so far involve either uncaging or redox processes. Demonstrated here for the first time is the viability of performing multicomponent alkyne cycloaromatizations inside live mammalian cells using ruthenium catalysts. Both fully intramolecular and intermolecular cycloadditions of diynes with alkynes are feasible, the latter providing an intracellular synthesis of appealing anthraquinones. The power of the approach is further demonstrated by generating anthraquinone AIEgens (AIE=aggregation induced emission) that otherwise do not go inside cells, and by modifying the intracellular distribution of the products by simply varying the type of ruthenium complex. |
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Keywords: | alkynes biological chemistry cycloadditions intracellular chemistry ruthenium |
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