Ferrocenyl-nucleobase complexes: Synthesis, chemistry and applications

• Synthesis and chemistry of ferrocenyl-nucleobases are reviewed.
• Biological applications of ferrocenyl-nucleobases are discussed.
• The relevance of ferrocenyl-nucleobases for self-assembly materials is shown.

Ferrocenyl-nucleobases are an increasingly important class of complexes with possible applications in biology, pharmacy and material sciences. This review focuses on synthetic methods for ferrocenyl-nucleobases and on the chemical transformations of these compounds. Utilization of ferrocenyl-nucleobases for self-assembly material preparation and as building blocks for XNA synthesis and anticancer and antibacterial agents is also discussed herein. This review shows that the combination of the redox-active biologically artificial ferrocenyl moiety and genetically essential nucleobases leads to conjugates that retain their electrochemical and self-pairing properties. These properties make ferrocenyl-nucleobases attractive objects for further studies and for applications across the entire spectrum of physico-chemical and engineering sciences.

Figure optionsDownload high-quality image (86 K)Download as PowerPoint slide