Discipline: Chemistry and Chemical Sciences
Subcategory: Cancer Research
Session: 4
Room: Exhibit Hall A
John-Paul Akinbami - Morgan State University
Co-Author(s): Santosh Mandal Ph.D., Department of Chemistry, Morgan State University, 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore, MD 21251. Angela Winstead, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry, Morgan State University, 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore, MD 21251.
Cisplatin and other platinum compounds have been the major contributors to the treatment of cancer and are applied in most anticancer chemotherapeutic treatments. Despite the immense success of these platinum compounds, there are two major drawbacks to their use: they are inadequate against platinum resistant tumors and they could lead to some severe side effects such as nephrotoxicity. Owing to this, other organically synthesized metal complexes, such as the organorhenium complexes, have recently been studied and have been shown to exhibit anticancer properties. These complexes may be suitable alternatives to the platinum anticancer compounds because they have proven to be less toxic to normal cells while inhibiting cancer cells. The synthesis of organorhenium complexes is a two-part process. The first is the synthesis of pentylcarbonato complexes (PC) using microwave synthesis. The microwave oven is an enclosed system that functions by the electric field induced phenomenon known as dielectric heating. As electric field passes through the samples in the vial, energy is being transferred to the molecules through dipole rotation and ionic conduction. The highly pressurized system and homogeneous heating drive the reaction to completion. Microwave synthesis is an effective heating method used for synthesizing pentylcarbonato complexes with reduced reaction time, greater yields, reproducibility and enhanced reaction control when compared with the conventional method. The pentylcarbonato complexes are formed by the reaction between dirhenium decacarbonyl and the respective α-diimine ligand. The reaction is carried out in the presence of CO2 and 1-Pentanol and is heated using microwave radiation. The reaction times are reduced from 12-24 hrs via conventional heating to 2-3.5 hrs using the CEM microwave. 22 PC complexes were synthesized and purified with a 60% yield. The PCs were characterized using IR and NMR. However, upon examining the IR of the finished products, certain unrecognized peaks were observed. One peak was around 2070 cm-1 and was identified starting material. The other peak around 1980 cm-1 is yet to be identified. NMR also showed unidentified peaks that maybe impurities. After completing preliminary studies, mechanistic studies are being conducted. These include running the reactions using varying microwave times and temperatures and then taking the IR of the product to identify clear peaks.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): N/A
Faculty Advisor: Angela Winstead, angela.winstead@morgan.edu
Role: For this research, I studied the papers written by my PI on this subject and synthesized the pentylcarbonato complexes using the microwave. Once done, I characterized the synthesized compounds using IR.