Development of trackable metal-based drugs: new generation of therapeutic agents

Abstract

In medicinal chemistry, the aim is not only to conceive ever more efficient molecules, but also to understand their mechanism of action. In very recent years, a new promising strategy was developed to tackle this issue: the conception of trackable therapeutic agents. Metal-based drugs are ideal to exploit this expanding area of research.

Cytotoxicity of Pyrazine-Based Cyclometalated (C^Npz^C)Au(III) Carbene Complexes: Impact of the Nature of the Ancillary Ligand on the Biological Properties

“…42 As we reported recently, 19 the photophysical properties of pyrazine-based complexes are dominated by the (C^N pz ^C) pincer ligand. On the basis of those findings, we measured the photophysical properties of the newly synthesized complexes (Table 1) to test whether they were emissive enough to be tracked inside the cells.…”

Coumarin‐Tagged Dinuclear Trithiolato‐Bridged Ruthenium(II)⋅Arene Complexes: Photophysical Properties and Antiparasitic Activity

“…In vitro/in vivo tracking of organometallic drugs using traceable compounds represents a promising approach. [26,27] Various conjugates obtained by anchoring an imaging probe to the biologically active metal-organic moiety were shown to facilitate the intracellular tracing of the metal-based drugs. [28][29][30] However, the modification of a drug with a fluorophore tag can strongly influence its physicochemical properties, and thus activity and behavior.…”

Development of a novel carboplatin like cytoplasmic trackable near infrared fluorophore conjugate via strain-promoted azide alkyne cycloaddition

“…[8] The BF2-azadipyrromethene (NIR-AZA) fluorophore class, which have absorptions of c. 690 nm with emission at c. 725 nm in formulated aqueous solution, [11,12] offer excellent photophysical and stability properties and have attracted the attention of many research teams [10,13] including those interested in tracking metal-based drugs. [14] Specifically a number of Pt(II) anticancer type compounds have been reported where boron-fluorescent dipyrromethene (BODIPY) moieties have been tethered to Pt centres via prior direct covalent modification of the ammine carrier ligands. For instance Miller et al developed BODIPY tethered Pt complexes for high resolution of cancer in vivo, [15] Hall and coworkers to monitor the fate of cisplatin analogues, [16] [16,17] Furthermore a number of Pt complexes which offer a general synthetic approach to the functionalization of Pt centres have been developed, including those that possess reactive azide handles that facilitate click reactions, Figure 3 (a-c).…”