The Chemistry of Cisplatin in Aqueous Solution

Abstract

The antitumor properties of platinum-containing drugs are attributable in large measure to the kinetics of their ligand displacement reactions. As is discussed at length in other contributions to this volume, their primary target is believed to be nitrogen donor atoms in the nucleobases of DNA. The bonds formed between the metal ion and these atoms must be sufficiently long-lived to interfere with the process of cell division, or to trigger the intracellular mechanisms that recognize irreparable damage to a cell. Bonds between the nucleobase nitrogen atoms and platinum(II) clearly fulfil this requirement. Metal ions that form labile bonds with the nucleobase nitrogen atoms cannot act in a similar way and do not give active compounds (1).