Application of metal coordination chemistry to explore and manipulate cell biology.

Our desire to understand how the individual molecules that make up cells organize, interact, and communicate to form living systems has lead to the burgeoning field of chemical biology, an interfacial area of science that combines aspects of chemistry — the study of matter and its transformations, and biology — the study of living things and their interactions with the environment. The defining feature of chemical biology is the use of chemical approaches and small molecules to interrogate or manipulate biology.1,2 These small molecules are synthetic or naturally occurring ones that, for example, bind to DNA to affect protein expression levels, bind to proteins to inhibit their function, interact with lipids to alter membrane integrity, or become fluorescent in response to a metabolic event. Because small molecules can affect biochemical function, there is a clear link between chemical biology and pharmacology and medicine.3 While small molecules are usually implied as being organic compounds,4 inorganic small molecules also have a long history in both biology and medicine. Ancient civilizations used gold and copper for healing purposes, and the modern era of drug discovery was ushered in when arsenic-containing salvarsan was discovered as an anti-syphilis agent to become the world’s first blockbuster drug.5 Inorganic compounds should therefore not be overlooked in the realm of chemical biology, since their distinctive electronic, chemical, and photophysical properties render them particularly useful for a variety of applications.6-8 What are the properties of metal ions that impart utility to biology? Because inorganic elements comprise the bulk of the periodic table, the diversity of these properties is likewise broad and has been thoroughly covered by several books in the field of bioinorganic chemistry.9-11 A brief summary of the general chemical properties of metals is given below. Charge. Metal ions are positively charged in aqueous solution, but that charge can be manipulated depending on the coordination environment so that a metal complexed by ligands can be cationic, anionic, or neutral. Interactions with ligands. Metal ions bind to ligands (both organic and inorganic) via interactions that are often strong and selective. The ligands impart their own functionality and can tune properties of the overall complex that are unique from those of the individual ligand or metal. The thermodynamic and kinetic properties of metal—ligand interactions influence ligand exchange reactions. Structure and bonding. Metal—ligand complexes span a range of coordination geometries that give them unique shapes compared to organic molecules. The bond lengths, bond angles, and number of coordination sites can vary depending on the metal and its oxidation state. Lewis acid character. Metal ions with high electron affinity can significantly polarize groups that are coordinated to them, facilitating hydrolysis reactions. Partially filled d-shell. For the transition metals, the variable number of electrons in the d-shell orbitals (or f-shell for lanthanides) imparts interesting electronic and magnetic properties to transition metal complexes. Redox activity. Coupled with the variability of electrons in the d-shell is the ability for many transition metals to undergo 1-electron oxidation and reduction reactions. Biology has taken advantage of these chemical properties of metals to perform several functional roles, which are summarized in Table 1. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather a primer to highlight important themes. Some metal ions, particularly the alkali and alkaline earth metals, are stable in aqueous solution as cations, making Na+, K+ and Ca2+ ideal for maintaining charge balance and electrical conductivity.10 On the other hand, the distinct architectures accessible via metal—ligand bonding interactions impart important structural roles to metal ions that encompass both macroscopic structural stabilization, as in biomineralized tissues,12 as well as molecular structural stabilization, as in proteins and nucleic acids that are stabilized in a preferred fold by metal ions.13-16 Metal—ligand bonding is also significant in its reversibility. For example, Nature takes advantage of reversible binding of metal ions like Ca2+ and Zn2+ to proteins or other storage repositories in order to propagate various biochemical signals.13,17 Metal ions themselves can be their own signal to adjust DNA transcription, as in the case of metalloregulatory proteins.18,19 Reversible metal—ligand coordination is also exploited to bind and release molecules to and from a metal center, a prime example being O2 binding and release from hemoglobin. Table 1 Functional roles of inorganic elements found in biology, with selected representative examples.