Coordination chemistry in biology

II. COORDINATION CHEMISTRY IN BIOLOGY II.A. General Coordination Aspects... 

At the time of the first volume of CCC(1987), the biological chemistry of cobalt was almost exclusively concerned with the cobalamins. The field has expanded and developed markedly since then. New cobalt-containing proteins have been characterized and applications of traditional cobalt coordination compounds in biology developed. These developments are illustrated below in some detail, as the field was not reviewed in the first edition. 

Kiss, T. In Biocoordination Chemistry Coordination Equilibria in Biologically Active Systems, Burger, K., Ed., Ellis Horwood Chichester, UK, 1990 pp 56-134. 

There has been considerable interest in the coordination chemistry of biologically relevant complexes of VO (IV) [94]. The... 

Supramolecular chemistry has thus developed into a coherent and extremely lively body of concepts and objects, progressively generating and incorporating novel areas of investigation. A whole vocabulary, still incomplete however, has been developed and has become more and more widely accepted and used. Some of the names have been borrowed and adapted from other existing fields, in particular coordination chemistry and biology. 

In this chapter we shall limit our discussion to complex compounds used in the first three of these principal areas. In addition, we shall discuss briefly the role of some physiologically important elements and molecules whose coordination chemistry in vivo is less well defined. Throughout this chapter, the series Metal Ions in Biological Systems , edited by Helmut Sigel,1 will be referred to frequently, and these references will be shown in the format, ref. 1, vol. 14, pp. 179-205, for example. 

J. A. McCleverty and T. J. Meyer (editors-in-chief), Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry From Biology to Nanotechnology, vol. 3, G. F. R. Parkin (volume ed.),... 

Ligands from the chiral pool have previously been underrepresented inboth coordination chemistry and stereoselective catalysis, e. g., sugars, cyclodextrins, and amino and nucleic acids. Furthermore, almost nothing is known about orga-nometallic chemistry in biological systems such as cells. 

Hidai, M. Mizobe, Y. Chemical dinitrogen fixation by molybdenum and tungsten complexes insights from coordination chemistry. In Metal Ions in Biological Systems Sigel, A., Sigel, H., Eds. Marcel Dekker New York, 2002 Vol. 39, pp. 121-186. 

Thus in the laboratory we tend to meet almost all metals in a pure form as synthetic cationic salts of common anions. These tend to be halides or sulfates, and it is these metal salts, hydrated or anhydrous, that form the entry point to almost all of metal coordination chemistry. In nature, it is no accident that metal ions that are relatively common tend to find roles, mediated of course by their chemical and electrochemical properties. Thus iron is heavily used not only because it is common, but also because it forms strong complexes with available biomolecules and has an Fe(II)/(III) redox couple that is accessible by biological oxidants and reductants and thus useful to drive some biochemical processes. 

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