New vanadium oxido complexes with potential biological activity

Sammanfattning: Several biological aspects of vanadium are known and even though it has not been proven to be an essential metal for humans, it might have implication as a drug against the disease diabetes mellitus. However, undesired side effect as a result of the toxicity of vanadium must be reduced. Studies have shown that the toxicity is decreased by coordination of the metal to organic ligands. This thesis presents several new oxidovanadium complexes that have been evaluated for their ability to mimic certain aspects of insulin signaling. The complexes are NXOY- or O4-coordinated with variable lipophilicity and/or stability. Stable complexes of tetra- and tridentate ligands, viz. [V(IV)O(bp-O)HSO4], [V(IV)O(bp-OH)Cl2] (bp-OH = bis(pyridylmethyl)-o-hydroxybenzylamine) and [{(papy)(VO)}2µ-O)] (H2papy = N-(2-hydroxybenzyl)-N-(2-picolyl)-glycine), as well as the lipophilic complex [V(V)O(tBuLNO)2(CH3O)] (tBuLNOH = di(4-tert-butylphenyl)-2-pyridylcarbinol), show less insulin-mimetic effect than the benchmark VOSO4 salt. However, two new complexes, viz. [(glysal)VO(H2O)] (H2glysal = N-(2-hydroxybenzyl)glycine) and [(salam)2VO] (Hsalam = salicylamide), did show effects comparable to VOSO4. Additional oxidovanadium complexes that were not subjected to biological testing, viz. ([bp-OH)V(V)O(O2)]+ and [V(IV)O(tBuLNO)2], as well as one new decavanadate structure, [Na(H2O)4]6[V10O28].2H2O, are also presented.