Investigation of intracellular speciation of a series organometallic hemilabile gold(III) complexes

Chelating carbene-pyridine based organogold(III) complexes of general formula [(C^C)Au(C^N)]+ present antiproliferative activities from the low micromolar to the submicromolar range. Their mechanism of action is currently being investigated as they are potential anti-cancer agents. We observed a clearly different chemical reactivity and cytotoxicity among members of this family, which was related to the nature of the carbene and the N-donor ligands. We previously demonstrated the possibility to identify the speciation of gold(III) phosphine complexes by cryo-X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy on beamline BM16[2, 3]. We now apply for beamtime on BM16 to perform cryo-XAS measurements on cancer cells treated with three different [(C^C)Au(C^N)]+ complexes to draw relationships between intracellular speciation, anticancer properties and chemical reactivity. This project is financially supported by ITMO Cancer (project Goldspec no. 23CP039-00).