ABSTRACT
The bioconjugation of organometallic complexes with peptides has proven to be a novel approach for drug discovery. We report the facile and chemoselective reaction of tyrosine-containing G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) peptides with [Cp*Rh(H(2)O)(3)](OTf)(2), in water, at room temperature, and at pH 5-6. We have focused on three important GPCR peptides; namely, [Tyr(1)]-leu-enkephalin, [Tyr(4)]-neurotensin(8-13), and [Tyr(3)]-octreotide, each of which has a different position for the tyrosine residue, together with competing functionalities. Importantly, all other functional groups present, i.e., amino, carboxyl, disulfide, phenyl, and indole, were not prominent sites of reactivity by the Cp*Rh tris aqua complex. Furthermore, the influence of the Cp*Rh moiety on the structure of [Tyr(3)]-octreotide was characterized by 2D NMR, resulting in the first representative structure of an organometallic-peptide complex. The biological consequences of these Cp*Rh-peptide complexes, with respect to GPCR binding and growth inhibition of MCF7 and HT29 cancer cells, will be presented for [(η(6)-Cp*Rh-Tyr(1))-leu-enkephalin](OTf)(2) and [(η(6)-Cp*Rh-Tyr(3))-octreotide](OTf)(2).