A series of tricarbonyl manganese complexes bearing 4-ethynyl-2,2′-bipyridine and 5-ethynyl-1,10-phenanthroline α-diimine ligands were synthetized, characterized and conjugated to vitamin B₁₂, previously used as a vector for drug delivery, to take advantage of its water solubility and specificity toward cancer cells. The compounds act as photoactivatable carbon monoxide-releasing molecules rapidly liberating on average ca. 2.3 equivalents of CO upon photo-irradiation. Complexes and conjugates were tested for their anticancer effects, both in the dark and following photo-activation, against breast cancer MCF-7, lung carcinoma A549 and colon adenocarcinoma HT29 cell lines as well as immortalized human bronchial epithelial cells 16HBE14o- as the non-carcinogenic control. Our results indicate that the light-induced cytotoxicity these molecules can be attributed to both their released CO and to their CO-depleted metal fragments including liberated ligands.

合成了一系列带有4-乙炔基-2,2'-联吡啶和5-乙炔基-1,10-菲咯啉α-二亚胺配体的三羰基锰配合物，表征并与维生素B ₁₂偶联，先前曾用作药物递送载体利用其水溶性和对癌细胞的特异性。该化合物充当可光活化的释放一氧化碳的分子，平均每秒钟迅速释放。在光辐照下相当于2.3当量的CO。测试了复合物和缀合物在黑暗中和在光激活后对乳腺癌MCF-7，肺癌A549和结肠腺癌HT29细胞系以及永生化的人支气管上皮细胞16HBE14o-的抗癌作用，致癌控制。我们的结果表明，这些分子的光诱导细胞毒性可归因于其释放的CO和其CO耗尽的金属片段（包括释放的配体）。