BIO-RELATED COPPER-MEDIATED OXIDATIVE PROCESSES

Abstract

Abstract The present minireview deals with the use of the oxidative properties of copper(II/I) coordination compounds for valuable applications, namely the selective conversion of alcohols into aldehydes (or ketones), the cleavage of DNA strands (anti-cancer drugs), and the prevention of the formation of copper/amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The concise report is therefore organized in three clearly defined parts: i) the design and preparation of simple copper(II) (and copper(I)) coordination compounds, mimicking the enzymatic activity of galactose oxidase, to mediate the selective oxidation of alcoholic substrates; ii) the generation of copper-containing chemical nucleases for the development of effective anti-cancer agents; iii) the current state of the art regarding the elucidation of the copper-based biological mechanisms (involving β-amyloid) that govern neural degeneration in AD. Keywords: Alzheimeramyloid fibrilcancercatalysisDNA cleavage galactose oxidase ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PG acknowledges the support of ICREA (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats) and the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) of Spain (project CTQ2011-27929). Notes This article is dedicated to the late Dr. Marguerite Pitié.