Anticancer drugs antitumor antibiotics

Using electrochemistry, uv-visible absorption, esr, and C nmr spectroscopy, and with the help of three new bleomycin analogues, the Fe(II) and Fe(III) binding sites of the antitumor antibiotic bleomycin have been located. The drug appears to utilize the amine-pyrimidine-imidazole region for iron binding. The physical properties of the metal complexes and how those properties relate to the proposed mechanism of action of the anticancer agent is also discussed. 

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