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Nature-Inspired Gold(I) Complexes as Anticancer Agents: Ligand Design, Structure-Activity Relationships, and
Amrin Begum1,2, Navya Pn1, Pooran Kumar1
1Centre for Advanced Materials and Industrial Chemistry, School of Science, STEM College, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia.
Abstract:
Nature-inspired ligands, including natural product scaffolds and bio-inspired motifs, have emerged as an important source for the development of gold(I) complexes with promising preclinical anticancer activity. This review focuses on structurally characterised gold(I) complexes derived from these ligands, emphasising how ligand structure and gold coordination influence the biological activity. This paper covers the synthesis of nature-inspired gold(I) complexes, alkynyl, N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC), heteroatom-donor, and heterobimetallic complexes, which collectively contribute to enhanced cytotoxicity, stability, and mechanistic diversity. By focusing on these nature-inspired gold(I) complexes, this review provides a concise structure-activity perspective and outlines future opportunities for rational design in anticancer research.
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