Multilayered Modelling of the Metallation of Biological Targets
The unique property of metals – the remarkable ability to modulate the electronic structure of both metal center and bound ligands – is the reason for their omnipresence in enzymes and in metal-coordinating biological factors. Modern metallodrug chemistry began with the serendipitous unveiling of the antitumour properties of cisplatin, followed by an avalanche of synthesized novel metallodrugs. The metallation of biological targets has then become a new paradigm in the field of bioinorganic chemistry, and a plethora of computational approaches have been developed and utilized to ease the detailed comprehension of its mechnisms with a focus on medical applications. Studies of the electronic …
Reactivity of antitumor coinage metal-based N-heterocyclic carbene complexes with cysteine and selenocysteine protein sites
Abstract The reaction of the antitumor M(I)-bis-N-heterocyclic carbene (M(I)-NHC) complexes, M = Cu, Ag, and Au, with their potential protein binding sites, i.e. cysteine and selenocysteine, was investigated by means of density functional theory approaches. Capped cysteine and selenocysteine were employed to better model the corresponding residues environment within peptide structures. By assuming the neutral or deprotonated form of the side chains of these amino acids and by considering the possible assistance of an external proton donor such as an adjacent acidic residue or the acidic component of the surrounding buffer environment, we devised five possible routes leading to the binding o…