Applications of NMR spectroscopy in understanding the gold biochemistry

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Isab, Anvarhusein A.^; | Ahmad, Saeed

Affiliations: Department of Chemistry, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia | Department of Chemistry, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: Gold-based drugs have been successfully used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. When administered, they undergo ligand exchange reactions in the body with biofluids, cells and proteins. NMR spectroscopy is a very useful technique for probing these ligand exchange reactions under physiological conditions. The strength of the binding ligands can be estimated by studying the chemical shift changes in 13C and 31P NMR. It is also a powerful method for investigating the kinetics and thermodynamics of the exchange reactions of gold drugs with biomolecules. The purpose of this review report is to highlight the importance of NMR spectroscopy in the study of gold biochemistry and to bridge the fairly large gap in the progress of this interesting area of bioinorganic chemistry.

Journal: Spectroscopy, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 109-123, 2006