Metalloporphyrins as chemical mimics of cytochrome P-450 systems

Certain synthetic metalloporphyrins have been shown to mimic the in vivo metabolism of some pharmaceuticals. Oxidation, hydroxylation and N-demethylation yielded synthetic metabolites. If found to be general, this lays the foundation of a predictive basis to optimize analog design of inhibitors with reduced oxidative reactivity, to determine the proclivity of drugs to form biologically active metabolites and provides a convenient methodology for their preparation.