Anticancer, Azonafide-Inspired Fluorescent Ligands and Their Rhenium(I) Complexes for Cellular Imaging

Two dipicolyamino-conjugated anthracene-1,9-dicarboximide fluorophores and their corresponding Re-I complexes have been synthesised and photophysically examined. All species were fluorescent in the visible region at about 490 nm with lifetimes up to 16 ns. The anticancer potency of the ligands and complexes was demonstrated across a range of cancer cell lines (LOVO, PC3, A549, MCF-7). Cell imaging studies with MCF7 cells and Schizosaccharomyces pombe show that these fluorophores exhibit variable intracellular localisation patterns that are structure-dependent.