CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL REACTIONS OF DIACETATO[2-(DIMETHYLAMINOMETHYL)PHENYL]GOLD(III), [AU(O(2)CME)(2)(DMAMP)]

The gold(III) complex [Au(O(2)CMe)(2)(dmamp)] [dmamp = 2-(dimethylamin omethyl)phenyl] is hydrolysed in wholly or partially aqueous solution. One acetate ligand, presumed to be that trans to the Au-C bond, excha nged with a water molecule rapidly on the NMR time-scale. At high conc entrations of water a further hydrolysis step was also discernible, wh ich involved the second acetate group while, in aged solutions, small amounts of a third species, possibly the second isomer of [Au(O(2)CMe) (dmamp)(H2O)](+), was formed. The reaction of aqueous or dimethyl sulf oxide solutions of the gold(III) complex with various biological ligan ds was followed by NMR spectroscopy and a range of reactivities was fo und: caffeine and adenosine showed no reaction, L-cysteine, glutathion e and adenine reacted quantitatively and guanosine and inosine showed partial reaction. In in vitro biological tests for antibacterial activ ity, [Au(O(2)CMe)(2)(dmamp)] exhibited a potentially useful selectivit y.