Ferrocene and titanocene steroid conjugates: Structures and activities – a brief review

Abstract

The present review describes the biological activities of ferrocenes and titanocenes steroid conjugates. Ferrocenes steroid conjugates demonstrate antineoplastic and antihypercholesterolemic activity with a confidence more than 90 percent, and can be used as erythropoiesis‐stimulating agents. Titanocenes steroid conjugates show anti‐inflammatory and anti‐seborrheic activity with a confidence more than 70 percent, and can also be used as glutaconyl‐CoA decarboxylase inhibitors and/or erythropoiesis‐stimulating agents. With the computer programme PASS and based on structure–activity relationships (SAR), some additional activities are also predicted, which point towards new possible applications of these lipids. This review is devoted to synthetic lipids ferrocenes and titanocenes steroid conjugates and their biological activity, which are of great interest for medicine, as well as for pharmacologists and the pharmaceutical industry.

Steroids Bearing Heteroatom as Potential Drugs for Medicine

“…The incorporation of metallocene moieties into steroid frameworks introduces novel properties and functionalities, expanding the scope of potential applications. Metallocene steroid conjugates have shown promise in various areas, including medicinal chemistry, drug delivery systems, and catalysis [368][369][370]. In medicinal chemistry, these conjugates have demonstrated enhanced biological activities compared to their parent steroids, including improved pharmacokinetics, increased receptor affinity, and altered drug distribution.…”

“…In medicinal chemistry, these conjugates have demonstrated enhanced biological activities compared to their parent steroids, including improved pharmacokinetics, increased receptor affinity, and altered drug distribution. The presence of the metallocene moiety can confer unique properties such as redox activity, enzyme inhibition, or metal coordination, allowing for targeted therapeutic interventions [364][365][366][367][368][369][370].…”

“…Metallocene steroid conjugates also find applications in drug delivery systems, where the metallocene moiety can serve as a platform for controlled release mechanisms or as a targeting moiety to specific cellular receptors or tissues. Their ability to combine the pharmacological properties of steroids with the distinctive features of metallocenes opens new possibilities for targeted and personalized therapies [364][365][366][367][368][369][370][371][372][373][374].…”

“…Biological activities of titanocene steroid conjugates(332)(333)(334)(335)(336)(337)(338)(339) [370].…”

Toward Selective Anticancer Agents: Ferrocene‐Steroid Conjugates

“…[8][9][10]28,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46] A comprehensive review published in 2013 covers metallocene-steroid conjugates including ferrocene derivatives, [42] but no review published to date focused exclusively on ferrocene-steroid conjugates. A review attempting to summarize the results concerning biological activities of conjugates of steroids with ferrocene and titanocene was published in 2018; [47] it, unfortunately, suffers from numerous inaccuracies and lack of depth. While this emerging compound class is modest in number and might seem insignificant in the veritable plethora of biologically active ferrocenes, research on ferrocene-steroid conjugates reveals important concepts and challenges encountered in the development of selective anticancer drugs and was thus chosen as a subject of this review, which shall cover the entirety of published works related to such compounds.…”