Benzyl-substituted carbene–metal complexes: Potential for novel antibiotics and anticancer drugs?

Benzyl-substituted metallocarbene compounds synthesized by our group and others during the past 5 years give a new perspective on their activity as antibiotic and antitumoral drugs. N-Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) containing Au and Ru compounds have shown promising anticancer activity in vitro and the Cu derivative WBC4 showed strong cytotoxic efficacy in vivo xenograft studies against difficult to treat renal cell cancer. While the carbene–silver acetate derivative SBC1 failed in vivo as an anticancer drug the antibacterial derivative SBC3 convinced in vivo and this compound may lead the way towards novel injectable emergency antibiotics against resistant bacteria and fungi.