AVVISO DI CONFERENZA

Prof. Elisa TOMAT

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona (USA)

Engineering redox chemistry: From non-innocent
ligands to intracellular metal chelators

Current projects in the Tomat laboratory pursue (i) the development of therapeutic strategies targeting the multifaceted roles of transition metal ions in human disease, and (ii) the engineering of redox reactivity patterns inspired by biologically occurring ligands. Our approaches on the molecular design of iron prochelators will be
discussed. Our redox-activated systems, which intercept iron cations in the intracellular milieu, seek to exploit an emerging vulnerability of cancer cells, namely their altered iron metabolism and increased demand for this essential metal ion. In addition, our recent findings on the redox chemistry of complexes featuring naturally
occurring oligopyrrolic ligands will be illustrated. Tripyrrolic and dipyrrolic compounds deriving from bacterial biosynthesis or mammalian metabolism are examined as redox-active ligands.