Supramolecular Organic and Organometallic Chemistry Centre

Abstract
The goal of this proposal is to obtain new homo- and heteroleptic diorganochalcogenides which can behave as uni (E) or polidentate (N/E or O/E) ligands towards metal or organometallic centres. The main objectives are: (i) to design derivatives of type RR'E (E = Se,Te; R,R' = organic groups with donor atoms capable for intra- or intermolecular interactions) and their main group (Sn, Bi) and d (Pd, Pt, Au, Ag, Zn, Cd, Hg) metal complexes; (ii) to study their solution behavior and solid state structure, (iii) to assay their antitumor activity against commercial tumor cell lines, (iv) to investigate, the optical properties, (v) to find optimized combinations of organic groups/donor atoms/metals and synthesis strategies, based on experimental evidence and theoretical approach (DFT, QSAR), (vi) to investigate the relation structure-activity for selected classes of compounds and (vii) to identify the interaction mechanisms. The proposed organochalcogen compounds are potential tridentate systems, containing, besides Se or Te, other functionalities [chalcogenazolone, pyrazole (pz), phenylthiazole (Phtz), amino, imino, COOH, OH] and display hard/soft combinations of donor atoms. The chosen ligands and their metal complexes are very attractive both for fundamental research and as promising active agents for applications in biology or optoelectronics. The project is essentially based on an inter- and multidisciplinary approach and it combines research excellence and complementarity.