Synthesis, Structure and Evaluation of Anticancer Heterocycles and Related Organometallic Derivatives

Dear Colleagues,

Versatile heterocyclic compounds with characteristic structural motifs constitute the vast majority of FDA-approved anticancer agents used in therapy and tested in different stages of clinical trials. By means of rational design, new multi-targeting drug candidates can be accessed which interact with more than one molecular target in tumor cells activating multiple signal transduction pathways, leading to apoptosis. The introduction of organometallic fragments into the molecular architecture with structurally fine-tunable redox potential may significantly contribute to the antiproliferative effect through the mitochondrial generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that activate further apoptotic pathways. On the other hand, in terms of stereochemistry determining the interactions with biological targets, drug candidates modified by organometallic residue(s) are more diverse than their purely organic counterparts, offering a possibility to extend the scope of structure–activity relationships (SARs) exploitable in the fragment-based design of therapeutic agents.

We intend for this Special Issue to be a collection of high-standard original contributions and reviews highlighting the most recent achievements and up‐to‐date trends in the synthetic strategies and methodologies aiming at the rational design and development of novel antiproliferative heterocycles with organometallic units. Articles reporting on physicochemical investigations (e.g., electrochemical analysis), spectroscopic and theoretical modeling studies, comparative evaluation and interpretation of the activity of organometallic models and their purely organic counterparts with disclosed structure–activity relationships are also welcome in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Antal Csampai
Guest Editor

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• heterocyclic chemistry
• novel antiproliferative heterocycles
• anticancer agents
• multi-targeting drug
• apoptosis
• NMR spectroscopy