Appraisal of the redox behaviour of the antimetastatic ruthenium(iii) complex [ImH][RuCl₄(DMSO)(Im)], NAMI-A

The imidazolium trans-tetrachloro(dimethylsulfoxide)imidazoleruthenate(iii) complex [ImH][Ru(iii)Cl₄(DMSO)(Im)], NAMI-A, has shown an interesting antimetastatic activity. Since Ru(iii) complexes are coordinatively more inert than the corresponding Ru(ii) derivatives, an “activation by reduction” mechanism has been proposed to explain the biological activity of NAMI-A, thus acting as a pro-drug. We report here an electrochemical study on NAMI-A in aqueous solutions which emphasizes the structural and chemical consequences accompanying the easy Ru(iii)/Ru(ii) electron transfer (e.g., axial imidazole/water exchange in acidic solution in the short timescale of cyclic voltammetry followed by equatorial chloride/water exchange in the longer timescale of macroelectrolysis).