Contacts:
Supervisor(s):
Prof. Fabio Marchetti
Title of the PhD project:
New ruthenium coordination compounds with medicinal and catalytic potential
Abstract of the PhD project:
Piano-stool ruthenium complexes containing an arene ligand have aroused a great interest for their applications in catalysis and in medicinal chemistry. In particular, Noyori was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001 for developing Ru-arene compounds as extremely efficient catalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation reactions. Other compounds belonging to the same class possess notable anticancer properties, and in particular RAPTA complexes, containing a pta ligand, are pointing to clinical trials. In principle, the replacement of the arene ligand with the homologous tris(pyrazolyl)methane (tpm) is expected to increase the stability of the coordination compound, however this piece of chemistry has been sparingly explored heretofore. My PhD project will deal with the synthesis of new ruthenium tpm-based complexes, resembling the structures of the most performant Ru-arene analogues, and the subsequent evaluation of their biological and/or catalytic potential.
Publications:
• Anticancer ruthenium (II) tris (pyrazolyl) methane complexes with bioactive co-ligands, A. Gobbo, S. Pereira, L. Biancalana, S. Zacchini, M.L.M.F.S. Saraiva, P.J. Dyson, F. Marchetti, Dalton Transactions 2022, 51, 17050. (DOI: 10.1039/D2DT03009H).
• Hydrogen bonding-enabled gold catalysis: Ligand effects in gold-catalyzed cycloisomerizations in hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP), N.V. Tzouras, A. Gobbo, N.B. Pozsoni, S. G. Chalkidis, S. Bhandary, K. Van Hecke, G.C. Vougioukalakis, S.P. Nolan, ChemCommun 2022, 58, 8516. (DOI: 10.1039/D2CC03056J)
• A Green Synthesis of Carbene‐Metal‐Amides (CMAs) and Carboline‐Derived CMAs with Potent in vitro and ex vivo Anticancer Activity, N.V. Tzouras, T. Scattolin, A. Gobbo, S. Bhandary, F. Rizzolio, E. Cavarzerani, V. Canzonieri, K. Van Hecke, G. C. Vougioukalakis, C.S.J. Cazin, S.P. Nolan, ChemMedChem 2022, 17, e202200135. (DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.202200135)
• A Simple Synthetic Route to Well‐Defined [Pd(NHC)Cl(1‐tBu‐indenyl)] Pre‐catalysts for Cross‐Coupling Reactions, Y. Liu, T. Scattolin, A. Gobbo, M. Beliš, K. Van Hecke, S.P. Nolan, C.S.J. Cazin, European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry 2022, 1, e202100840. (DOI: 10.1002/ejic.202100840)
• Tetrahedral photoluminescent manganese(II) halide complexes with 1,3-dimethyl-2-phenyl-1,3 diazaphospholidine-2-oxide as a ligand, M. Bortoluzzi, J. Castro, A. Gobbo, V. Ferraro, L. Pietrobon, S. Antoniutti, New J. Chem. 2020, 44, 2, 571. (DOI: 10.1039/c9nj05083c)
• Light harvesting indolyl-substituted phosphoramide ligand for the enhancement of Mn(II) luminescence, M. Bortoluzzi, J. Castro, A. Gobbo, V. Ferraro, L. Pietrobon, Dalton Transactions, 2020, 49, 22, 7525. (DOI: 10.1039/D0DT01659D).
• Luminescent lanthanide complexes with phosphoramide and arylphosphonic diamide ligands, M. Bortoluzzi, A. Gobbo, A. Palù, F. Enrichi, A. Vomiero, Chemical Papers 2019, 74, 11, 3693. (DOI: 10.1007/s11696-019-00799-6)
• 1,3-Dimethyl-2-phenyl-1,3-diazaphospholidine-2-oxide as ligand for the preparation of luminescent lanthanide complexes, M. Bortoluzzi, A. Gobbo, J. Coord. Chem. 2019, 72, 9, 1524. (DOI: 10.1080/00958972.2019.1608440)
• Seeded growth of gold nanorods: the effect of sulfur-containing quenching agents, A. Gobbo, R. Marin, P. Canton, J. Nanopart. Res. 2018, 20, 3, 1. (DOI: 10.1007/s11051-018-4159-9)
Oral communications at conferences:
• Alberto Gobbo, Lorenzo Biancalana, Guido Pampaloni, Massimo Guelfi, Stefano Zacchini, Fabio Marchetti “Adding diversity to the ruthenium-tris(pyrazolyl)methane scaffold: new complexes for biological and catalytic applications” Chemistry for the Future International Conference, Pisa (Italy) June 29th – July 1st 2022.
• Alberto Gobbo, Lorenzo Biancalana, Guido Pampaloni, Stefano Zacchini, Viktor Brabec, Fabio Marchetti “A New Family of Ru(II)-Tris(pyrazolyl)methane complexes: Synthesis and Biological Results” XXVIII International Conference on Coordination and Bioinorganic Chemistry (ICCBIC), Smolenice (Slovakia) June 5th – June 10th 2022.
• Alberto Gobbo, Lorenzo Biancalana, Guido Pampaloni, Stefano Zacchini, Viktor Brabec, Fabio Marchetti “A New Family of Ru(II)-Tris(pyrazolyl)methane complexes: Synthesis and Preliminary Biological Results” XVIII PhD-Chem Day, Alghero (Italy) April 28th, 2022.
Poster communications at conferences:
• Alberto Gobbo, Lorenzo Biancalana, Lúcia M. F. S. Saraiva, Stefano Zacchini, Paul J. Dyson, Viktor Brabec, Fabio Marchetti “Adding Diversity to the Ruthenium-Tris(pyrazolyl)Methane Scaffold: New Complexes for Biological Applications” ‘29th International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (ICOMC) in Prague (Czech Republic) July 17th – July 21st 2022.
• Alberto Gobbo, Xinyuan Ma, Lorenzo Biancalana, Massimo Guelfi, Guido Pampaloni, Stefano Zacchini, Steven Nolan, Fabio Marchetti “Ruthenium(II) Tris-(Pyrazolyl)methane Complexes: Synthesis and Transfer Hydrogenation Catalysis” GreenCat 2022, 4th international Green Catalysis Symposium in Rennes (France) April 19th-22nd 2022
• Alberto Gobbo , Lorenzo Biancalana , Massimo Guelfi , Stefano Zacchini , Guido Pampaloni , Fabio Marchetti “New Ru(II)-Tris(pyrazolyl)methane complexes: Straightforward synthesis and conjugation of bioactive molecules” 24th Virtual Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (EuCOMC XXIV) University of Alcalá, Madrid (Spain), September 1st-3rd 2021
• Alberto Gobbo, Lorenzo Biancalana, Massimo Guelfi, Fabio Marchetti, Guido Pampaloni “Straightforward Synthesis of a New Family of Robust and Easily Functionalizable Ruthenium(II)-Tris(pyrazolyl)methane complexes” Chemistry for the Future 2021 conference (CFF 2021), Pisa (Italy) June 30th - July 2nd 2021
• Alberto Gobbo, Marco Bortoluzzi, Alberto Palù, Francesco Enrichi, Alberto Vomiero, “Luminescent lanthanide complexes with phosphoramide and arylphosphonic diamide ligands” XXVII International Conference on Coordination and Bioinorganic Chemistry (ICCBIC 2019) in Smolenice (Slovakia) June 2019.
Other achievements:
• Best Oral Presentation Award – Third Price: International Conference on Coordination and Bioinorganic Chemistry (ICCBIC), Smolenice (Slovakia) June 5th – June 10th 2022.
