Author(s): Francescato, Giulia ; Leitão, Maria Inês P.S. ; Orsini, Giulia ; Petronilho, Ana
Date: 2024
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/182753
Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Subject(s): caffeine; medicinal chemistry; metal complexes; N-heterocyclic carbenes; xanthines; Biochemistry; Molecular Medicine; Pharmacology; Drug Discovery; Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics(all); Organic Chemistry; SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Funding Information: . We kindly acknowledge the support of FCT\u2010 Funda\u00E7\u00E3o para a Ci\u00EAncia e a Tecnologia, I.P., through the MOSTMICRO\u2010ITQB R&D Unit (UIDB/04612/2020, UIDP/04612/2020) and LS4FUTURE Associated Laboratory (LA/P/0087/2020) and Fellowships PD/BD/135483/2018 and COVID/BD/152502/2022 (M.I.P.S. Leit\u00E3o), SFRH/BD/144441/2019 (G. Francescato) UI/BD/152076/2021 (G. Orsini). A. Petronilho acknowledges contract CEECINST/00102/2018/CP1567/CT0043 Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors. ChemMedChem published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
Xanthines are purine derivatives predominantly found in plants. These include compounds such as caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine and exhibit a variety of pharmacological properties, demonstrating efficacy in treating neurodegenerative disorders, respiratory dysfunctions, and also cancer. The versatile attributes of these materials render them privileged scaffolds for the development of compounds for various biological applications. Xanthines are N-heterocyclic carbene precursors that combine a pyrimidine and an imidazole ring. Owing to their biological relevance, xanthines have been employed as N-heterocyclic carbenes in the development of metallodrugs for anticancer and antimicrobial purposes. In this conceptual review, we examine key examples of N-heterocyclic carbene complexes derived from caffeine and other xanthines, elucidating their synthetic methods and describing their pertinent medicinal applications.
