A pH-driven ring translocation switch against cancer cells

Qian Cheng (1) , Hang Yin (2) , Roselyne Rosas (3) , Didier Gigmes (4) , Olivier Ouari (4) , Ruibing Wang (2) , Anthony Kermagoret (4) , David Bardelang (4)

1 State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, China
2 Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences - State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine Taipa, Macau SAR,
3 FRSCM - Fédération des Sciences Chimiques de Marseille
4 ICR - Institut de Chimie Radicalaire

A molecular switch built with cucurbit[7]uril and a 3-station viologen-phenylene-imidazole compound exhibited pH actuated ring translocation with high fatigue resistance (up to 10(2) cycles). The switch movement was harnessed toward selectively masking the toxicity of the viologen fragment at neutral pH near non-cancerous cells, while exposing it at acid pH near cancer cells.

Domains: Chemical Sciences

Qian Cheng, Hang Yin, Roselyne Rosas, Didier Gigmes, Olivier Ouari, et al.. A pH-driven ring translocation switch against cancer cells. Chemical Communications, 2018, 54 (98), pp.13825--13828. ⟨10.1039/c8cc08681h⟩. ⟨hal-02091869⟩