Ternary oxovanadium(IV) complexes of ONO-donor Schiff base and polypyridyl derivatives as protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitors: Synthesis, characterization, and biological activities

A series of oxovanadium complexes with mixed ligands, a tridentate ONO-donor Schiff base ligand [viz., salicylidene anthranilic acid (SAA)], and a bidentate NN ligand [viz., 2,2́-bipyridine (bpy), 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), dipyrido[3,2-d:2́,3́-f]quinoxaline (dpq), dipyrido[3,2-a:2́,3́-c]phenazine (dppz), or 7-methyldipyrido[3,2-a: 2́,3́-c]phenazine (dppm)], have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, UV-vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform IR spectroscopy, EPR spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography. Crystal structures of both complexes, [V^IVO(SAA) (bpy)]•0.25bpy and [V^IVO(SAA)(phen)]•0.33H₂O, reveal that oxovanadium(IV) is coordinated with one nitrogen and two oxygen atoms from the Schiff base and two nitrogen atoms from the bidentate planar ligands, in a distorted octahedral geometry (VO₃N₃). The oxidation state of V(IV) with d ¹ configuration was confirmed by EPR spectroscopy. The speciation of VO-SAA-bpy in aqueous solution was investigated by potentiomtreic pH titrations, and the results revealed that the main species are two ternary complexes at a pH range of 7.0-7.4, and one is the isolated crystalline complex. The complexes have been found to be potent inhibitors against human protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) (IC₅₀ approximately 30-61 nM), T-cell protein tyrosine phosphatase (TCPTP), and Src homology phosphatase 1 (SHP-1) in vitro. Interestingly, the [V ^IVO(SAA)(bpy)] complex selectively inhibits PTP1B over the other two phosphatases (approximate ninefold selectivity against SHP-1 and about twofold selectivity against TCPTP). Kinetics assays suggest that the complexes inhibit PTP1B in a competitive and reversible manner. These suggest that the complexes may be promising candidates as novel antidiabetic agents. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]