Anti-Cancer Activity of Water Soluble Reduced Graphene Oxide-Aryl Aziridino-Manganese (II) Complex

Abstract

The Graphene-based functional structures with large surface areas, ease of functionalization/modification, and photothermal features are currently very attractive for cancer nanotherapy applications. The reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) structures having moderate cytotoxicity have been used against human cancerous cells. We developed a water soluble rGO by heating with an aryl azide (a “green” reagent) followed by mild oxidation with aqueous alkaline KMnO4 yielding the c0lorless, water soluble rGO-arylaziridino-Mn (II) complex. The anti-cancer property of the compound was tested in human monocytic U937 cell line, CT26 murine colon carcinoma cell line and 4T1 murine breast cancer cell lines. rGOarylaziridino-Mn (II) complex significantly induced apoptosis in the above cells in a concentration dependent manner in vitro, similar to an effect of known anti-cancer drug Doxorubicin.