Anticancer metallodrugs of glutamic acid sulphonamides: in silico, DNA binding, hemolysis and anticancer studies

Abstract

In response to an increased demand for effective anticancer drugs, a series of disodium sulphonamides of L-glutamic acid (L1–L3) was synthesized. Sulphonamides were complexed with copper(II), nickel(II) and ruthenium(III) ions, separately and respectively. The sulphonamides and their complexes were characterized by various physico-chemical, analytical and spectroscopic techniques. Solution stability studies indicated the robust nature of the complexes in PBS at pH 7.4. DNA binding constants (K_b) revealed good binding (0.7 × 10³ to 5.24 × 10⁴ mol⁻¹) capacities of the reported compounds. Complexes bound to DNA more efficiently as compared to their ligands. In silico studies supported DNA binding of the reported ligands. Cumulative evidence from the results of in silico and DNA binding studies indicated that the polarizing and non-polarizing effects of chloro and methyl groups significantly affected the DNA binding ability of the compounds. The compounds were less toxic towards rabbit RBCs as compared to the well-known anticancer drug doxorubicin. All the compounds had good anticancer activities (131–153% viability) on MCF-7 (wild type) cell lines.