Effects of tethered ligands and of metal oxidation state on the interactions of cobalt complexes with the 26S proteasome.

In this paper we report on the synthesis and characterization of three cobalt complexes described as [CoII(L1)2] (1), [CoII(L2)] (2), and [CoIII(L1)2]ClO4 (3). These complexes contain the deprotonated forms of the [NN′O] tridentate ligand HL1 and its newly synthesized [N2N′2O2] hexadentate counterpart H2L2, namely, 2,4-diiodo-6-((pyridine-2-ylmethylamino)methyl)phenol and 6,6′-((ethane-1,2-diylbis((pyridin-2-ylmethyl) azanediyl))bis(methylene))bis(2,4-diiodophenol). Characterizations for 1–3 include electrospray ionization (ESI) spectrometry, infrared, and UV–visible spectroscopies, and elemental analyses. A detailed 1H-NMR study was conducted for 3 and X-ray structural data was obtained for 2. The viability of this series as potential agents for proteasome inhibition and cell apoptotic induction involving PC-3 cancer cells is presented comparing the behavior of the untethered [NN′O]2 six-coordinate 1 and 3 and the tethered counterpart 2 with a 1:1 metal-to-ligand ratio. It is observed that the tethering in 2 decreases inhibition activity. When 1 and 3 are compared, the most inert, but redox-active, cobalt(III) species shows the highest chymotrypsin-like activity inhibition on purified proteasome and PC-3 cancer cells. A hypothesis based on the role of oxidation states for proteasome inhibition is offered.