Recent Advances in The Use of Luminescent Organotin(IV) Complexes for Cytotoxicity and Cellular Imaging

Abstract

Over recent decades, among the main group compounds, heavier group 14 complexes are currently receiving enormous attention due to their exclusive cytotoxic and imaging prope-rties in vitro and in vivo. Precisely, tin(IV) complexes have emerged as desirable candidates in the field of molecular imaging due to their unique structural and photophysical properties.1 Nowadays, compounds with luminescent properties are essential in diagnosis and therapeutic uses. A fluorescent compound with low cytotoxicity, high photostability, and organelle specificity would help in the dia,g:nosis of physiological disorders related to that specific organelle. In short, it can act as a real-time tracking bioimaging agent Similarty, fluorescent compounds with high cytotoxic properties help in evaluating the cell death mechanism more accurately. TIii now many organotin(M compounds have been studied as cytotoxic agents. However, their mechanistic pathways of cell death are still less explored. In the field of bioimaging, to date hardly any tin(IV) compounds are reported as organelle­specific nialkers. In light of this trend, our group has recently started working in organo6n(IV) chemistry integrating different types of 0- andlor N- and/or S- donor ltgands.2•3 Few of the studied compounds exhibited very promi&'ing results. Therefore, the encouraging findings from the biological investigations of organotin(IV) complexes will offer a fresh avenue for investigating the potential applications of these organotin complexes in "biomedical molecular imaging," or the diagnosis and therapeutic uses. Here in this presentation, I will basically focus on some of the recent interesting results of my group obtained from this luminescent tin(IV) chemistry and their applications.