A tutorial for the assessment of the stability of organometallic complexes in biological media

Abstract

The use of metal-based drugs is increasingly gaining importance in medicine and renowned conferences such as the International Symposium on Bioorganometallic Chemistry (ISBOMC) are excellent opportunities for scientists in the field to exchange ideas and present their research on this topic. We decided to dedicate one of our group’s presentations at ISBOMC’19 to the detailed experimental description of the stability studies on metallocene-containing compounds that we are currently developing. The stability of (organometallic) drug candidates in biological media such as plasma is indeed a crucial parameter in medicinal chemistry and drug design. The presentation was very well received by the audience, which prompted us to contribute to this special issue with an article in the form of a tutorial. More specifically, we are aiming to show how such experiments can be easily performed in standard chemistry laboratories, without the need of specific pharmacological or biological expertise. In this tutorial article, we describe the detailed protocols for studies with human plasma and human microsomes, which simulate the conditions in the blood and liver, respectively, so that medicinal chemists from organometallic backgrounds can take the plunge without fear.