N-Heterocyclic carbene metal complexes in medicinal chemistry.

Metal complexes with N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands are widely used in chemistry due to their catalytic properties and applied for olefin metathesis among other reactions. The enhanced application of this type of organometallics has over the last few years also triggered a steadily increasing number of studies in the fields of medicinal chemistry, which take advantage of the fascinating chemical properties of these complexes. In fact it has been demonstrated that metal NHC complexes can be used to develop highly efficient metal based drugs with possible applications in the treatment of cancer or infectious diseases. Complexes of silver and gold have been biologically evaluated most frequently but also platinum or other transition metals have demonstrated promising biological properties.