Advances in ferrocene photosensitizers: illuminating new avenues in the medicinal chemistry of cancer

IF 3.1 4区医学 Q3 CHEMISTRY, MEDICINAL

Medicinal Chemistry Research Pub Date : 2025-06-11 DOI:10.1007/s00044-025-03432-2

Diego I. Figueroa-Figueroa, Francisco Hernández-Luis

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Abstract

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising treatment for diseases like cancer and microbial infections, relying on light-activated photosensitizers to generate cytotoxic reactive oxygen species. While PDT has shown clinical success, developing novel photosensitizers with improved properties remains challenging. Ferrocene, with its unique stability, redox activity, and tunability, offers an attractive scaffold for this purpose. This review delves into the recent advancements in ferrocene-based photosensitizers, exploring their design strategies, mechanisms of action, and diverse applications in medicinal chemistry. We critically discuss their potential, comparing structure-activity relationships across various ferrocene derivatives and evaluating their performance in in vitro cell line assays. Additionally, we address current challenges and future directions, highlighting their potential to significantly advance PDT and offer new therapeutic avenues.

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二茂铁光敏剂的研究进展：照亮癌症药物化学的新途径

光动力疗法（PDT）是一种很有前途的治疗癌症和微生物感染等疾病的方法，它依靠光激活的光敏剂产生细胞毒性活性氧。虽然PDT已经取得了临床成功，但开发具有改进性能的新型光敏剂仍然具有挑战性。二茂铁以其独特的稳定性、氧化还原活性和可调性，为这一目的提供了一个有吸引力的支架。本文综述了二茂铁光敏剂的最新研究进展，探讨了二茂铁光敏剂的设计策略、作用机制及其在药物化学中的多种应用。我们批判性地讨论了它们的潜力，比较了各种二茂铁衍生物的结构-活性关系，并评估了它们在体外细胞系分析中的表现。此外，我们还讨论了当前的挑战和未来的方向，强调了它们在显著推进PDT和提供新的治疗途径方面的潜力。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Medicinal Chemistry Research 医学-医药化学

CiteScore

4.70

自引率

3.80%

发文量

162

审稿时长

5.0 months

期刊介绍： Medicinal Chemistry Research (MCRE) publishes papers on a wide range of topics, favoring research with significant, new, and up-to-date information. Although the journal has a demanding peer review process, MCRE still boasts rapid publication, due in part, to the length of the submissions. The journal publishes significant research on various topics, many of which emphasize the structure-activity relationships of molecular biology.