Metals and drugs
Hi,
I have noticed much discussion about computer-aided drugs design
and related topics over the net in the past, inquiries about success
stories in computer-aided design, etc. It seems to me as if the overwhelming
majority of these systems are organic (which makes sense since I would imagine
that most drugs are organic and computational methods are most widely developed
for these systems). Given our interest in computational inorganic chemistry
we are more concerned about developing efficient approaches to inorganic
compounds of a size which one might see in a medicinal application (ca. 50 -
100 atoms).
There are, of course, numerous metalloproteins and enzymes in which
a metal-containing active site plays an important role, but I was wondering if
there are any commercial drugs that contain metals? Off the top of my head,
I can think of platinum anti-cancer drugs and gadolinium MRI contrast agents.
Are there more? I would also be interested in drugs designed to coordinate to
metals for example in removal of heavy metals from the body. Also, are there
any 'computer-aided drug design success stories' for metal-containing drugs?
Have techniques such as QSAR and CoMFA been applied to metal-containing
systems?
Thanks, in advance, for any info.
Tom
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Thomas R. Cundari
Asst. Professor of Chemistry
Computational Inorganic Chemistry Lab
University of Memphis Check out Univ. of Memphis
Memphis, TN 38152 Chem Dept. on the World Wide Web
phone: 901-678-2629 Organized by Prof. Henry Kurtz
fax: 901-678-3447 Suggestions? kurtzh (+ at +)
msuvx1.memst.edu
e-mail: cundarit (+ at +) memstvx1.memst.edu
http://www.memst.edu/chemistry/umchem.html
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