Catalysis Concepts in Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry

Abstract

Catalysis hass trongly emerged in the field of medicinal inorganic chemistry as as uitablet ool to deliver new drug candidates andt oo vercome drawbacks associated to metallodrugs.I nt his Concepta rticle, we discuss representative examples of how catalysis has been applied in combination with metal complexes to deliver new therapy approaches. In particular,w ee xplain key achievements in the design of catalytic metallodrugst hat damage biomolecular targets and in the development of metal catalysis schemes for the activation of exogenous organic prodrugs. Moreover,w ed iscusso ur recent discoveries on the flavin-mediated bioorthogonal catalytic activation of metal-basedp rodrugs;anew catalysis strategy in whichm etal complexes are unconventionallye mployed as substrates rather than catalysts.The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this articlecan be found under https://doi.

Bioorthogonal Uncaging of Cytotoxic Paclitaxel through Pd Nanosheet–Hydrogel Frameworks

“… 15 , 16 , 23 , 31 In this context, our lab has contributed to the use of palladium (Pd) as a heterogeneous catalytic system to generate clinically approved anticancer drugs in living environs. 24 , 25 , 39 − 43 Such an approach aims to achieve increased control over when and where prodrugs are converted into active drugs by exploiting activation strategies that do not rely on metabolic reactions. 44 , 45 To date, nondegradable materials have been used to capture Pd nanoparticles and protect them from the biological milieu, meaning that the devices will stay at the affected tissue even after completing their catalytic function.…”

Synthesis, Characterisation and In Vitro Anticancer Activity of Catalytically Active Indole-Based Half-Sandwich Complexes

“…On a different note, in the last 10 years, much effort has been invested in studying the use of catalytic metal complexes for in-cells applications [ 38 , 39 , 40 ]. Particularly, the use of compounds capable of performing functional group modifications inside cells has attracted growing interest [ 38 , 39 , 40 ].…”

“…On a different note, in the last 10 years, much effort has been invested in studying the use of catalytic metal complexes for in-cells applications [ 38 , 39 , 40 ]. Particularly, the use of compounds capable of performing functional group modifications inside cells has attracted growing interest [ 38 , 39 , 40 ]. Such transformations not only allow the in-cells activation of pro-drugs or fluorophores through reduction [ 41 , 42 ] or deprotection of functional groups [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], but can also alter the homeostasis and metabolism of the cells via oxidation/reduction of molecules such as glutathione, nicotinamide dinucleotide or pyruvate/lactate [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ].…”

Nature is the Cure: Engineering Natural Redox Cofactors for Biomimetic and Bioinspired Catalysis

“…This new application of flavin in bioorthogonal catalysis suggests that natural redox cofactors can be used to perform catalysis in complex contexts. This is not surprising considering the natural occurrence of flavin in multicomponent systems but nevertheless opens new vistas in medicinal inorganic chemistry . Another example of application of flavin mimics in cell media towards whole‐cell biotransformation was reported in which a synthetic flavin analogue was found to regulate cofactor balance in vivo.…”