Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 12, Issue 3, 2012

Metal based agents are continuously gaining increasing attention as potential drug candidates or as tools in diagnostic applications. Combination of unique intrinsic properties of metal ions and complexes, e.g. redox-properties, radioactivity, magnetism or reactivity, with the multiplicity of various organic and bioorganic ligands afforded an inconceivable number of potential molecules. The known activities of several metal ions in bi Read More

This review will highlight recent advances in ligand design for innovative applications in medicinal inorganic chemistry. Ligands that effectively bind metal ions and also include specific features to enhance targeting, reporting, and overall efficacy are driving innovation in areas of disease diagnosis and therapy. Increasing the potency of therapeutic compounds, while limiting side-effects, is a common goal in medicinal che Read More

Recent progresses of our group dealing with newly developed sugar-based ligands and their metal complexes have been reviewed. Carbohydrate moiety affects on the stereochemistry around the metal center and controls the biological activity of the complex.

Transition metal complexes with terpyridine ligands have attracted a widespread interest with respect to biomedical applications: [(tpy)PtCl]Cl and [(tpy)RuCl3] are potent anti-tumor agents with activities comparable to those of cisplatin and carboplatin. The RuII complexes feature a high potential as reactive probes for DNA oxidation; whereas, luminescent IrIII, PtII or EuIII complexes have been utilized in biolabeling applic Read More

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photodynamic diagnosis of cancer are widely used in clinical fields. These are performed using photosensitizers. Many metalloporphyrin-related compounds have been developed as photosensitizers for use in PDT, and these tumor localization ability have been improved in recent research. Moreover, the precursor of porphyrin 5-aminolevulinic acid is used in fluorescence diagnosis using its tumo Read More

Since the discovery of cisplatin, the search for diagnostic or therapeutic agents based on other metals, has expanded intensively owing to the numerous possibilities offered by coordination chemistry. This mini-review focuses on recent advances in the search for RuII polyazaaromatic complexes of potential interest as molecular tools applied to cellular diagnostics or as specific cellular photo-reagents for future biomedi Read More

Transition metal complexes with oligopyridine ligands and ruthenium or rhenium centers have attracted a widespread interest with respect to biomedical applications as they are luminescent and form triplet excited states which may form 1O2. These complexes have been shown to enter living cells and even cellular nuclei. In addition detailed investigations of their interaction with proteins/enzymes have shown that they ar Read More

Biological trace metals such as iron, zinc, copper, and manganese are essential to life and health of humans, and the success of platinum drugs in the cancer chemotherapy has rapidly grown interest in developing inorganic pharmaceutical agents in medicinal chemistry, that is, medicinal inorganic chemistry, using essential elements and other biological trace metals. Transition metal complexes with unique chemical struct Read More

More than 99% of currently approved clinical drugs are organic compounds. In contrast, the percentage of metal-containing drugs (metallodrugs) is very low. In cancer chemotherapy, however, platinum coordination compounds represented by cisplatin and derivatives thereof are essential anticancer agents with proven effects against a variety of tumors. Because of the proven clinical applications of these platinum-based d Read More