Magnesium ions coordination compounds

Many ionic compounds contain what used to be referred to as water of crystallization . For example, magnesium chloride can exist as a fully hydrated salt which was formerly written MgCla.bHjO, but is more appropriately written Mg(OH2)eCl2, since the water molecules occupy coordination sites around the magnesium ions. This is typical. In most compounds that contain water of crystallization, the water molecules are bound to the cation in an aquo complex in the manner originally proposed by Alfred Werner (1866-1919) in 1893 (Kauffman, 1981). Such an arrangement has been confirmed in numerous cases by X-ray diffraction techniques. 

A metal-nucleotide complex that exhibits low rates of ligand exchange as a result of substituting higher oxidation state metal ions with ionic radii nearly equal to the naturally bound metal ion. Such compounds can be prepared with chromium(III), cobalt(III), and rhodi-um(III) in place of magnesium or calcium ion. Because these exchange-inert complexes can be resolved into their various optically active isomers, they have proven to be powerful mechanistic probes, particularly for kinases, NTPases, and nucleotidyl transferases. In the case of Cr(III) coordination complexes with the two phosphates of ATP or ADP, the second phosphate becomes chiral, and the screw sense must be specified to describe the three-dimensional configuration of atoms. 

Coordination compounds play important roles in nature. Chlorophyll, which is involved in photosynthesis in plants, is a coordination complex of magnesium. Hemoglobin, the oxygen transporter in the human body, is a coordination complex of iron. Vitamin B12, necessary for the prevention and cure of pernicious anemia, is a coordination complex of cobalt. In all three compounds, the metal ion is in an approximately octahedral environment, its coordination number is 6, and bonded to it are the four nitrogen atoms of a planar porphyrin-hke ring. The basic planar ring structure is closely related to that of the extremely stable blue pigment, Cu(II)phthalo-cyanine. 

Metal coordination compounds and free metal ions are well known to effect cellular processes This metal effect not only deals with natural processes, such as cell division and gene expression where ions like Magnesium, Zinc and Manganese play a role, but also with non-natural processes such as toxicity, carcinogenicity, and anti-tumor chemistry This chapter deals with a special aspect of medicinal metal biochemistry, namely the mechanism of Pt and Ru coordination complexes applied as antitumor drugs in humans... 

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