Gold® thiolate drugs

There is still intense interest in developing better gold thiolate drugs and new modifications of the complexes are being sought (equation 35) 274... 

Fig. 3. (A) Ring and (B) chain structures for gold(I) thiolate drugs such as aurothiomalate ( Myocrisin )- Wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements have revealed Au-Au contacts of 3.35, 5.8, and 8.1 A, and analysis of the fine structure on the Au Lin X-ray absorption edge gives an average Au-S distance of 2,3 A with a coordination number of two (sulfurs) (54, 52). (C) White blood cells (PMNs) can covert aurothiomalate into [Au(CN)2], an inhibitor of O2 production (the oxidative burst) (62). This could provide a route to Au(III) dicyano complexes.

One feature of the gold-based drugs is that Hgands undergo facile thiolate exchange reactions with components in biofluids and cells in the body. For example, auranofin reacts rapidly with serum albumin with gold binding to... 

Hill, D.T, Sutton, B.M., Isab, A.A., Razi, T, Sadler, P.J., Trooster, J.M. and Calls, G.H.M. (1983) Gold- 197 Mossbauer Studies of Some Gold(I) Thiolates and Their Phosphine Complexes Including Certain Antiarthritic Gold Drugs. Inorganic Chemistry, 22, 2936-2942. 

Thiolate ligands also afford an interesting variety of species [156-161]. Because or their relation with the antiarthritic drug Auranofin, thiolate-goldphosphine derivatives have received great interest. The simplest structures are those in which the thiolate bridges two gold atoms and thus different compounds of stoichiometry... 

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