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Antimonial drugs have been used for a century in the therapy of the parasitic disease leishmaniasis. Even though pentavalent antimonials are still first-line drugs, they exhibit several limitations, including severe side effects, the need for daily parenteral administration and drug resistance. The molecular structure of pentavalent antimonials, their metabolism and mechanism of action, are still being investigated. Previous studies suggest that pentavalent antimony acts as a prodrug which is converted to the active and more toxic trivalent antimony. Other works support the direct involvement of pentavalent antimony. Recent data indicate that thiols and ribose-containing biomolecules may mediate the pharmacological action of these drugs. Trypanothione reductase and zinc-finger proteins were identified as possible molecular targets. This review summarizes the progress achieved to date on the chemistry of antimonial drugs in biological systems.

Four hundred and twenty monomeric organoplatinum compounds, in which platinum atoms are five- and higher coordinated, are analyzed. The platinum atoms are found in the oxidation states +2, +3 and +4. The Pt(II) compounds by far prevail. There are wide varieties of the inner coordination spheres about the platinum centers. The Pt(II) compounds are five-coordinated (trigonal bipyramidal and square pyramidal), six-coordinated (different degrees of distortion), seven-coordinated (pentagonal bipyramidal, piano stool) and sandwiched (PtC 10 ). The Pt(III) compound is square-planar. The Pt(IV) compounds are six- and eight-coordinated. There are several relationships between the Pt-L bond distances, covalent radii of the coordinated atom/ligand, and metallocycles, which are discussed. The trans-effect plays an important role in the inner coordination spheres about the Pt centers, especially on the Pt-L bond distances.