Preparation and characterization of metallomicelles of Ru(II). Cytotoxic activity and use as vector

[Display omitted] •Metallomicelles of Ru(II) showed cytotoxic activity and selectivity by some cancer cell lines.•Confocal fluorescence microscopy demonstrated the interaction between micelles and DNA.•Metallomicelles of Ru(II) showed a good internalization into cancer and normal cells at low surfactant concentrations.•DNA acted as a catalyst in the structural change from spherical to elongated micelles. The use of nanovectors in several medicinal treatments has reached a great importance in the last decade. Some drugs need to be protected to increase their lifetimes in the blood flow, to avoid degradation, to be delivered into target cells or to decrease their side effects. The goal of this work was to design and prepare nanovectors formed by novel surfactants derived from the [Ru(bpy)3]2+ complex. These amphiphilic molecules are assembled to form metallomicelles which can act as pharmaceutical agents and, at the same time, as nanovectors for several drugs. TEM images showed a structural transition from spherical to elongated micelles when the surfactant concentration increased. Fluorescence microscopy confirmed the internalization of these metallomicelles into diverse cell lines and cytotoxicity assays demonstrated specificity for some human cancer cells. The encapsulation of various antibiotics was carried out as well as a thorough study about the DNA condensation by the metallomicelles. To the best of our knowledge, applications of these metallomicelles have not been shown in the literature yet.