Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance is an increasingly serious threat to global public health that requires innovative solutions to counteract new resistance mechanisms emerging and spreading globally in infectious pathogens. Classic organic antibiotics are rapidly exhausting the structural variations available for an effective antimicrobial drug and new compounds emerging from the industrial pharmaceutical pipeline will likely have a short-term and limited impact before the pathogens can adapt. Inorganic and organometallic complexes offer the opportunity to discover and develop new active antimicrobial agents by exploiting their wide range of three-dimensional geometries and virtually infinite design possibilities that can affect their substitution kinetics, charge, lipophilicity, biological targets and modes of action. This review describes recent studies on the antimicrobial activity of transition metal complexes of groups 6–12. It focuses on the effectiveness of the metal complexes in relation to the rich structural chemical variations of the same. The aim is to provide a short vade mecum for the readers interested in the subject that can complement other reviews.
Highlights
Antimicrobial resistance has become a global concern affecting humans’ ability to prevent and treat an increasing number of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi and the success of surgery and cancer chemotherapy
We present an overview of antimicrobial transition metal complexes published in the scientific literature in the last five years
The antimicrobial activities of the chromium(III) complexes were tested against S. aureus (Gram-positive), E. coli and P. aeruginosa (Gram-negative) bacterial strains, but their efficacies were lower than the standard drug, i.e., ampicillin
Summary
Antimicrobial resistance has become a global concern affecting humans’ ability to prevent and treat an increasing number of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi and the success of surgery and cancer chemotherapy. Available medicines become ineffective, infections persist in the body, increasing the risk to patients’ health, spreading and health care costs Multidrug resistant bacteria, such as Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acetinobacter baumanii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacteriaceae (“ESKAPE”) species, are a major concern of the World Health Organization (WHO) and health authorities. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most critical causes of healthcare-related or community-related infections, because of the multiple resistances to antibiotics and the toxins produced [6] It is, evident that there is an urgent need for the development of new antimicrobial agents with more effective mechanisms of action [7]. This work aims at being complementary to those, including some important common seminal examples but mostly species not included by the other authors
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