Enhancers of Superoxide Generation in vivo and Novel Superoxide Dismutase Mimics

Abstract

The review describes about the compounds which can enhance the generation of superoxide (O2[Formula Omitted]) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the biological systems and about the novel metal complexes which can have superoxide dismutase activity in vivo. Some compounds are readily reduced by one or two electron (s) to produce their reduced forms. When these reduced forms can react with dioxygen, the compounds often have the potential to increase the production (s) of O2[Formula Omitted] and/or H2O2 in living cells. The review shows that hypervalent heteropentalenes, 3, 4-diaza-1, 6, 6 a-trithiapentalenes (TTP) and 1, 6-dioxa-6 a-thia-2, 5-diazapentalenes (HEP), are capable of this in studies with electrochemical reactions and Escherichia coli, respectively The hypervalent structures may be essential for enhancement of O2[Formula Omitted] and/or H2O2 generation in living cells. The review also shows that novel metal complexes, Fe (II) -tetrakis N, N, N′, mN′- (2-pyridylmethyl) ethylenediamine (Fe-TPEN) and Fe (III) -tris [N- (2-pyridylmethyl)-2-aminoethyl] amine (Fe-TPAA) act as potent superoxide dismutase mimics in vivo. The iron complexes appear to have the possibility of being applied therapeutically. © 1989, The Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Japan. All rights reserved.