Our research mainly focuses on Bioinorganic and Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry– especially in investigating the role of metal complexes  in medicine. The group aims to understand the role of metals in nature. It is interested in the application-oriented development of metal-containing 
compounds such as new metallonucleases, metalloproteases, fluorescent  nucleic acid probes, anticancer agents, and nanomedicine. We have designed and synthesized certain copper(II) and ruthenium(II) mixed-ligand metal complexes and tested their cytotoxicity with the various origin of cancer cell lines, and discovered a few copper complexes have shown promising anticancer activity with nanomolar IC50 values with cancer cells. Besides synthetic inorganic chemistry, structural characterization of new metal complexes, and their cytotoxicity, we strongly aim to investigate the mechanisms of action of their anticancer activity. 

List of Publications:

1. Mixed Ligand Copper(II)-Diimine Complexes of 2- Formylpyridine-N4 - Phenylthiosemicarbazone: Diimine Co-ligands Tune the in Vitro Nanomolar Cytotoxicity Radhakrishnan Kartikeyan, Dhanashree Murugan, Tamilarasan Ajaykamal, Loganathan Rangasamy, Marappan Velusamy, Mallayan Palaniandavarc and Venugopal Rajendiran, Dalton Trans. 2023, In Press. Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry, Impact factor: 4.569

2. Mamindla, A.; Varadhan, M.; Kartikeyan, R.; Amuthamozhi, A.; Akbarsha, P. M. A.; Rajendiran, V. Comparative DNA-/BSA-Binding, Generation of Phenoxyl Radical, DNA Cleavage, and Cytotoxic Properties between Mixed-Ligand Copper (II) Complexes Containing Amino-Phenolate and Salicyl-Phenolate Schiff Bases as Primary Ligands and 1, 10- Phenanthroline as Co-Ligand. Polyhderon, In Press. Publisher: Elsevier, Impact factor: 2.975

3. Mamindla, A.; Varadhan, M.; Velusamy, M.; Ulaganathan, V.; Rajendiran, V. Crystal Structure of [2-({[2-(Dimethylamino-κN) Ethyl] Imino-κN} Methyl) Phenolato-κO](1, 10- Phenanthroline-κ 2N, N′) Copper (II) Perchlorate. Acta Cryst. 2023, E79 (4), 259–263. Publisher: IUCr, Impact factor: 0.261

4. Folic Acid-Conjugated Mixed-Ligand Copper(II) Complexes as Promising Cytotoxic Agents for Triple-Negative Breast Cancers: A Case Study Using MDA-MB-231 Cell Sambantham Karpagam, Anjaneyulu Mamindla, Veeresh Kumar Sali, Reeja Sankaran Niranjana, Vaiyapuri Subbarayan Periasamy, Ali Abdullah Alshatwi, Mohammad Abdulkader Akbarsha and Venugopal Rajendiran, Inorg. Chim. Acta., 2022, 531, 120729. Publisher: Elsevier, Impact factor: 2.545

5. Identification of cytotoxic copper(II) complexes with phenanthroline and quinoline, quinoxaline or quinazoline-derived mixed ligands Kartikeyan Radhakrishnan, Themmila Khamrang, Karpagam Sambantham, Veeresh Kumar Sali, Upendra Chitgupi, Jonathan F. Lovell, A. Akbarsha Mohammad, Rajendiran Venugopal, Polyhedron 194, 2021, 114886. Publisher: Elsevier, Impact factor: 2.975

6. Induction of Redox-Mediated Cell Death in ER-Positive and ER-Negative Breast Cancer Cells by a Copper(II)-Phenolate Complex: An In Vitro and In Silico Study Vaiyapuri Subbarayan Periasamy, Anvarbatcha Riyasdeen, Venugopal Rajendiran, Mallayan Palaniandavar, Hanumanthappa Krishnamurthy, Ali Abdullah Alshatwi and Mohammad Abdulkader Akbarsha, Molecules 2020, 25, 4504. Publisher: MDPI, Impact factor: 4.927

7. ROS-mediated cell death induced by mixed ligand copper(II) complexes of L-proline and diimine: Effect of co-ligand Sambantham Karpagam, Radhakrishnan Kartikeyan, Pappaiyan Paravai Nachiyar, MarappanVelusamy, Mani Kannan, Muthukalingam Krishnan, Upendra Chitgupi, Jonathan F. Lovell, Mohammad Abdulkader Akbarsha and Venugopal Rajendiran, J. Coord. Chem. 2019, 72, 3102–3127. Publisher: Taylor and Francis, Impact factor: 1.869

8. Metalloporphyrin nanoparticles: Coordinating diverse theranostic functions Shuai Shao, Venugopal Rajendiran, Jonathan F. Lovell, Coordination Chemistry Reviews 2019, 379, 99–120. Publisher: Elsevier, Impact factor: 24.833

9. Assessing Photosensitizer Targeting Using Meso-Tetra(Carboxyphenyl) Porphyrin Upendra Chitgupi, Jonathan F. Lovell and Venugopal Rajendiran, Molecules 2018, 23, 892 Publisher: MDPI, Impact factor: 4.927

10. Synthesis, structures, and DNA and protein binding of ruthenium(II)-p-cymene complexes of substituted pyridylimidazo[1,5-a]pyridine: enhanced cytotoxicity of 6 complexes of ligands appended with a carbazole moiety Themmila Khamrang, Radhakrishnan Kartikeyan, Marappan Velusamy, Venugopal Rajendiran, Rajakumar Dhivya, Balaji Perumalsamy, Mohammad Abdulkadher Akbarshad and Mallayan Palaniandavar, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 114143. Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry, Impact factor: 4.036

11. New [Ru(5,6-dmp/3,4,7,8-tmp)2(diimine)]2+ complexes: Non-covalent DNA and protein binding, anticancer activity and fluorescent probes for Nuclear and protein components Venugopal Rajendiran, Mallayan Palaniandavar, Vaiyapuri Subbarayan Periasamy, Mohammad Abdulkader Akbarsha, J. Inorg. Biochem. 2012, 116, 151. Publisher: Elsevier, Impact factor: 4.336

12. [Ru(phen)2(dppz)]2+ as An Efficient Optical Probe for Staining Nuclear Components Venugopal Rajendiran, Mallayan Palaniandavar, Vaiyapuri Subbarayan Periyasamy, Mohamad Abdulkader Akbarsha, J. Inorg. Biochem. 2010, 104, 217. Publisher: Elsevier, Impact factor: 4.336

13. Induction of Cell Death by DNA Binding and Cleaving Ternary Copper(II) Complexes of L-tyrosine and Diimines: Role of Co-ligands on Anticancer activity Sethu Ramakrishnan, Venugopal Rajendiran, Mallayan Palaniandavar, Vaiyapuri Subbarayan Periasamy, Bangalore Suresh Srinag, Hanumanthappa Krishnamurthy, and Mohammad Abdulkader Akbarsha, Inorg. Chem. 2009, 48, 1309. Publisher: American Chemical Society, Impact factor: 5.436

14. Chromium-induced in vivo DNA changes in marine cyanobacterium Oscillatoria willei BDU 130511 Swaminathan Palanisami, Venugopal Rajendiran, Mallayan Palaniandavar, Lashmanan Uma, International Journal on algae, 2009, 11, 395. Publisher: Begell House, Impact Score: 0.443

15. Non-covalent DNA binding and cytotoxicity of certain mixed ligand ruthenium(II) complexes of 2,2’-dipyridylamine and diimines Venugopal Rajendiran, Mariappan Murali, Eringathodi Suresh, Mallayan Palaniandavar, Vaiyapuri Subbarayan Periasamy, Mohammad Abdulkader Akbarsha, Dalton Trans. 2008, 2157. Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry, Impact factor: 4.569

16. Mixed ligand ruthenium(II) complexes of bis(pyrid-2-yl)-/bis(benzimidazol-2-yl)- dithioether and diimines: Study of non-covalent DNA binding and cytotoxicity Venugopal Rajendiran , Mariappan Murali, Eringathodi Suresh, Sarika Shinka, Kumaravel Somasundaram and Mallayan Palaniandavar, Dalton Trans. 2008, 148. Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry, Impact factor: 4.569

17. Cleavage of Proteins by a Mixed-Ligand Copper(II) Phenolate Complex: Hydrophobicity of the Diimine Coligand Promotes 7 Venugopal Rajendiran, Mallayan Palaniandavar, Palanisami Swaminathan and Lakhsmanan Uma, Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 10446. Publisher: American Chemical Society, Impact factor: 5.436

18. Mixed Ligand Copper(II)-phenolate Complexes: Effect of Co-ligand on Enhanced DNA and Protein Binding, DNA Cleavage and Anticancer Activity Venugopal Rajendiran, Ramasamy Karthik, Mallayan Palaniandavar, Helen Stoeckli-Evans, Mohamad Abdulkader Akbarsha, Vaiyapuri Subbarayan Periyasamy, Bangalore Suresh Srinag and Hanumanthappa Krishnamurthy, Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 8208. Publisher: American Chemical Society, Impact factor: 5.436

19. Interaction of rac-[Ru(5,6-dmp)3] 2+ with DNA: Enantiospecific DNA Binding and Ligand-Promoted Extensive Exciton Coupling Palanisamy Uma Maheswari, Venugopal Rajendiran, Helen Stoeckli-Evans and Mallayan Planiandavar,* Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 37. Publisher: American Chemical Society, Impact factor: 5.436

20. Synthesis, Characterization and DNA-binding Properties of rac-[Ru(5,6- dmp)2(dppz)]2+ - Enantiopreferential DNA Binding and Co-ligand Promoted Exciton Coupling Palanisamy Uma Maheswari, Venugopal Rajendiran, Ramalingam Parthasarathi, Venkatesan Subramanian, and Mallayan Palaniandavar* J. Inorg. Biochem. 2006, 100, 3. Publisher: Elsevier, Impact factor: 4.336

21. Structures and Spectra, and Binding Properties of Mixed Ligand Copper(II) Complexes of Iminodiacetic Acid: The Novel role of Diimine Co-ligand on DNA Conformation and Hydrolytic and Oxidative Double Strand Cleavage Bojayan Selvakumar, Venugopal Rajendiran, Palanisamy Umamaheswari, Stoeckli-Evans and Mallayan Palaniandavar* J. Inorg. Biochem. 2006, 100, 316. Publisher: Elsevier, Impact factor: 4.336

22. Mixed Ligand Complexes of Ruthenium(II): The Role of 5,6-dmp Ligand on DNA Binding of the Complexes Palanisamy Uma Maheswari, Venugopal Rajendiran and Mallayan Palaniandavar* Reji Thomas b, G.U. Kulkarni, Inorg.Chim. Acta. 2006, 359, 4601. Publisher: Elsevier, Impact factor: 2.545

23. Copper(II) Complexes of Certain Pyridylmethylethylenediamines: Role of Sterically Hindered Ligands on DNA Binding and Cleavage Angamuthu Raja, Venugopal Rajendiran, Palanisamy Umamaheswari, Ramalingam Balamurugan, Colin A. Kilner, Malcolm A. Halcrow, Mallayan Palaniandavar* J. Inorg. Biochem., 2005, 99, 1717. (Top 25 article) Publisher: Elsevier, Impact factor: 4.336

24. Enantiopreferential DNA Binding: [{(5,6-dmp)2Ru}2(bpm)]4+ Induces B to Z Conformational Change on DNA Palanisamy Uma Maheswari, Venugopal Rajendiran, Mallayan Planiandavar*, Ramalingam Parthasarathi, and Venkatesan Subramanian. Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn. 2005, 78, 835. (Selected Paper) Publisher: Chemical Society of Japan, Impact factor: 5.121