Rhodium(I) and Iridium(I) N-Heterocyclic carbene complexes of imidazolium functionalized amino acids and peptides

The conjugation of organometallic complexes to peptides is generally achieved through covalent organic linkages of the metal's ligand to the peptide. Examples of direct coordination to metal centers by amino acid side chain residues remain rare. In one such example, side chain methylation of the natural amino acid histidine (His) resulted in an imidazolium functionalized amino acid which was used for the synthesis of rhodium(I), iridium(I), iridium(III), palladium(II) and ruthenium(III) N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes of the single amino acid and peptides containing this amino acid. Here, we have synthesized two new, non-natural imidazolium functionalized amino acid derivatives, which were used for solid phase peptide synthesis and for the synthesis of [M(COD)(NHC)Cl] (COD = 1,5 cyclooctadiene) complexes of Rh(I) and Ir(I). In total, six new complexes of the single amino acids and four complexes where the amino acids are present in a peptide environment were synthesized. Their characterization provides convincing evidence of conversion of the imidazolium moiety to an NHC ligand and thus the presence of a direct metal-carbon bond between the metal center and the amino acid side chain. Therefore, our compounds represent unique examples of peptide-conjugated complexes that bear the potential to be used for the synthesis of N-heterocyclic carbene complexes conjugated to cancer cell targeting peptides. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.