Organometallic Chemistry Tools for Building Biologically Relevant Nanoscale Systems

The recent emergence of organometallic chemistry for modification of biomolecular nanostructures has begun to rewrite the long-standing assumption among practitioners that small-molecule organometallics are fundamentally incompatible with biological systems. This Perspective sets out to clarify some of the existing misconceptions by focusing on the growing organometallic toolbox for biomolecular modification. Specifically, we highlight key organometallic transformations in constructing complex biologically relevant systems on the nanomolecular scale, and the organometallic synthesis of hybrid nanomaterials composed of classical nanomaterial components combined with biologically relevant species. As research progresses, many of the challenges associated with applying organometallic chemistry in this context are rapidly being reassessed. Looking to the future, the growing utility of organometallic transformations will likely make them more ubiquitous in the construction and modification of biomolecular nanostructures.