AUTHOR=Shi Xinya , Gu Yulan , Wan Chuandan , Jiang Xin , Shen Lei , Tan Litao , Zhong Yujie , Zou Dengfeng 

TITLE=Two copper(II) compounds derived from tetrazole carboxylates for chemodynamic therapy against hepatocellular carcinoma cells

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2022.915247

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2022.915247

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>Two Cu(II) compounds based on tetrazole-carboxylate ligands, [Cu(phtza)<sub>2</sub>(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>2</sub>]∙3H<sub>2</sub>O (<bold>1</bold>) and [Cu(atzipa)<sub>2</sub>]∙2H<sub>2</sub>O (<bold>2</bold>) (phtza = 2,2'-(5,5'-(1,3-phenylene)bis(2<italic>H</italic>-tetrazole-5,2-diyl))diacetate, atzipa = 3-(5-amino-1<italic>H</italic>-tetrazol-1-yl)isopropanoic anion), were designed and synthesized by hydrothermal reactions. The X-ray diffraction results show that the two compounds show two-dimensional (2D) layer structures. Nanoprecipitation with 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[methoxy(polyethylene glycol)<sub>-2000</sub>] (DSPE-PEG<sub>-2000</sub>) contributes to the formation of the nanoparticles (NPs) with excellent water dispersity. <italic>In vitro</italic> study indicates that the two NPs exert considerable cytotoxicity toward human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2 and Huh7) with low half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC<sub>50</sub>). However, the cytotoxicity of such NPs is negligible in normal cells (HL-7702). The cytotoxicity of these NPs was also investigated by the flow cytometry and Calcein-AM/PI (live/dead) co-stained experiments. The results promise the great potential of these NPs for chemodynamic therapy against cancer cells.</p>