Lea is on the Willamette University Swim Team and is a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority.  She participated in SCRP during the summer of 2003 on a physics project.  When Lea is at home, she works as a head lifeguard and enjoys camping and rafting.  When she graduates she hopes to go to graduate school to get a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering. 

INFRARED SPECTROELECTROCHEMICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF A
RU-BASED ANTI-CANCER DRUG

Due to recent advances in the understanding of metastatic cancer, many metallic compounds are being studied in attempts to elucidate any anti-cancer properties that they may have.  It has been proposed that cancer cells have a different reduction potential than healthy somatic cells, leading to the idea that metallic drug compounds can be chemically reduced in the cell.  To investigate the changes in the chemical bonding at different oxidation states of these compounds, infrared spectroscopy has been combined with voltammetry to view bond energies at different potentials. 

A proposed anticancer complex, [RuCl4(DMSO)(NO)]-, was examined using spectroelectrochemistry.   The reduction/oxidation potentials were found using cyclic voltammetry (RuIII to RuII) and bulk electrolysis was performed at the determined voltages of 0mV and –700mV.  Difference spectra were generated by subtracting the Ru(III) spectrum from the Ru(II) spectrum to look at bonding changes.  These results showed no change in the NO ligand bond, suggesting that NO is not dissociated from the complex by a change in reduction potential.

A photolysis experiment involving both IR spectroscopy and UV/Vis spectroscopy was performed.  Using a UV pulsed laser, [RuCl4(DMSO)(NO)]- was irradiated in order to study dissociation of the NO ligand from the complex.  Although a chemical change was observed in the UV-Vis spectra, the IR difference spectra showed no change in the NO peak.  Implications from this work in terms of anti-cancer mechanism will be discussed.