Biological Activity of Au(III) Complexes

The earliest therapy use of gold compounds dated in 2500 AD. In 1960s gold compounds were used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, discoid lupus erythematosus, etc. Although the compounds of Au(I) are well-known and used in the modern medicine, new complexes of Au(III) and ligands with different donor atoms are synthetized and examined for their biological (antitumor, antimicrobial) activity. So far conducted studies show that complexes with Au(III) as central metal ions have greater activity compared with free ligands. Future syntheses should be based on the increase of biological activity with complexes that have necessary stability under physiological conditions.