Bioinorganic Chemistry of the Natural [Fe(NO)(2)] Motif: Evolution of a Functional Model for NO-Related Biomedical Application and Revolutionary Development of a Translational Model!

Identification of the distinctive electron paramagnetic resonance signal at g = 2.03 in the yeast cells and liver of mice treated with carcinogens opened the discovery and investigation of the natural [Fe(NO)2] motif in the form of dinitrosyliron complexes (DNICs). In this Viewpoint, a chronological collection of the benchmark for the study of DNIC demonstrates that the preceding study of its biological synthesis, storage, transport, transformation, and function related to NO physiology inspires the biomimetic study of structural and functional models supported by thiolate ligands to provide mechanistic insight at a molecular level. During the synthetic, spectroscopic, and theoretical investigations on the structure-to-reactivity relationship within DNICs, control of the Fe–NO bonding interaction and of the delivery of NO+/•NO/HNO/NO– by the supporting ligands and nuclearity evolves into the “redesign of the natural [Fe(NO)2] motif” as a strategy to develop DNICs for NO-related biomedical application and ...