title: Silicon chemistry as a novel source of chemical diversity in drug design.
abstract: The use of organosilicon chemistry in drug design is reviewed. The field of bioorganosilicon chemistry, which sprung up in the 1970s to exploit the opportunities of silicon for drug design, is currently being developed into a practical and commercial enterprise. This review is mainly focused on two different approaches: (i) synthesizing a silicon analog of a known drug in which one carbon atom has been replaced by a silicon atom, with the rest of the molecule being identical (carbon/silicon switch, sila-substitution); (ii) synthesizing completely new silicon-based classes of compounds (the carbon analogs of which do not exist) that exploit specific features of silicon chemistry to address a well-validated target.
authors.affiliation: Amedis Pharmaceuticals Ltd, 162 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0GP, UK.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bains
authors.forename: Reinhold
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tacke
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D015195:Drug Design; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D017655:Silicon Compounds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D008055:Lipids; D017655:Silicon Compounds; D010450:Endopeptidases; D012825:Silicon