Recent advances in iron complexes and their interaction with nucleic acids

Iron is considered the most abundant transition metal in the living body, playing fundamental roles as an oxygen-carrier and in creating metallo-enzymes. The interaction of nucleic acids and other biomolecules such as serum albumins has become an important area of research, as nucleic acids are known to be the primary pharmacologic targets. Despite that storage of genetic information is the main biologic role of DNA, its chemical structure is ideal for binding to the metal via both covalent and noncovalent modes. Understanding the underlying mechanisms by which iron complexes interact with biomolecules and relating them to their biologic effects are necessary. A large number of potential Fe(II)/(III) complexes employing an enormous choice of ligands having structural and biologic diversity have been synthesized and tested to probe the nucleic acid structure and to ascertain the details of DNA binding. Owing to this diversity, a multiplicity of biologic interactions is expected. This chapter reviews the recent literature reported in the field of interaction of Fe(II)/(III) complexes with nucleic acids, especially DNA and other biomolecules, viz., serum albumin, along with the complex formation between Fe and the coordinating moieties within biomolecules. The first section focuses on general synthetic protocols involved in synthesizing the Fe(II)/(III) complexes; the second section summarizes the methods of analysis involved in analyzing the interaction of Fe complexes with biomolecules. The next section presents a review of the interaction modes of recent Fe(II)/(III) complexes with DNA and serum albumins.