CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

how does coordination relate to chemotherapy drugs? How can we explain them?

Cisplatin is a well known chemotherapy drug and it forms a coordination complex with DNA, stopping cell division because the DNA can't be further replicated.

Cisplatin is the example from class. It must be cis because that means the two chlorine atoms are on the same side and they can each be replaced with water and will bond to a N with a lone pair on a guanine base. At a region of two close Guanine bases both chlorines can be replaced with water and will bind forming a stronger cisplatin-dna-complex. This attracts DNA repair proteins which irreversibly bind, this distorts the shape of dna and prohibits replication. If replication is stopped the cancer cells can't divide. This is crucial because uncontrolled cell division is the definition of cancer.