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We are mainly interested in Metals in Biological System. Currently we are studying the platinum anticancer drug mechanism. Among the many platinum anticancer drugs, we are particularly interested in the platinum compounds in the oxidation state of +4, Pt(IV). The goal of this research is to understand how Pt(IV) anticancer drugs interacts with DNA and RNA, which will give insights into their unique anticancer activities relative to their Pt(II) analogs. Experimental methods include synthetic chemistry of coordination complexes, structural methods such as NMR, UV/visible, and circular dichroism spectroscopies, and a chromatographic method such as high performance liquid chromatography, and an electrochemical method such as cyclic voltammetry, and biochemical technique such gel electrophoresis. The findings from this research will provide better understanding of chemistry of Pt(IV) coordination complexes, and may lead to the development of improved platinum chemotherapeutic drugs. |