Synthesis, Structure, Spectroscopy and Photophysics of ruthenium(II) complexes used as intercalators in DNA – PhotoBioMet

This project combines synthetic inorganic chemistry, Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET), time-resolved pump-probe and steady-sate absorption/emission spectroscopies with accurate methods of quantum chemistry and excited states dynamics. Our aim is to discover new ruthenium based metallo-intercalators in DNA and to decipher and rationalize the structural, spectroscopic and photophysical properties of these new synthesized molecules and other known ruthenium (II) polypyridyl complexes. This class of molecules has remarkable photochemical and electrochemical properties with metal-to-ligand-charge-transfer (MLCT) excited states and Ru(II), Ru(III), Ru(IV) oxidation states easily accessible by visible irradiation. The rich chemical and structural diversity of Ruthenium Derived Compounds (RDC) has provided the biological chemists with a range of chemical, luminescent and photochemical probes to study DNA and potentially to open new routes to diagnostic and therapeutic agents for various diseases. Especially, the photophysical and electrochemical properties of this class of molecules, as well as their binding properties to DNA can be varied by appropriate ligand substitutions.