Open AccessTherapeutic potential of boron-containing compounds
Author(s) -
Stephen J. Baker,
Charles Z. Ding,
Tsutomu Akama,
YongKang Zhang,
Vincent Hernandez,
Yi Xia
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
future medicinal chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.708
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1756-8927
pISSN - 1756-8919
DOI - 10.4155/fmc.09.71
Subject(s) - boron , drug discovery , chemistry , nanotechnology , biochemical engineering , combinatorial chemistry , materials science , organic chemistry , biochemistry , engineering
Relative to carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, very little is currently known about boron in therapeutics. In addition, there are very few boron-containing natural products identified to date to serve as leads for medicinal chemists. Perceived risks of using boron and lack of synthetic methods to handle boron-containing compounds have caused the medicinal chemistry community to shy away from using the atom. However, physical, chemical and biological properties of boron offer medicinal chemists a rare opportunity to explore and pioneer new areas of drug discovery. Boron therapeutics are emerging that show different modes of inhibition against a variety of biological targets. With one boron-containing therapeutic agent on the market and several more in various stages of clinical trials, the occurrence of this class of compound is likely to grow over the next decade and boron could become widely accepted as a useful element in future drug discovery.