Environmental pollution is one of the main problems to confront humanity, with the heavy metals occupying a leading role among the most pernicious pollutants. The metals cause cancer and other sicknesses. Their cytotoxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic potentials are not fully understood, and any thorough investigation demands the combined efforts of scientists drawn from many different disciplines. But the effects of heavy metals are not all negative: some, like cis-DDP, and some ruthenium and tin complexes, have antitumour activity. The idea underlying the present work is therefore to present a multidisciplinary perspective on heavy metals in the environment, affording a better understanding of their action on human organisms and health, aiming to make them less polluting and more environmentally friendly.

Environmental pollution is one of the main problems to confront humanity, with the heavy metals occupying a leading role among the most pernicious pollutants. The metals cause cancer and other sicknesses. Their cytotoxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic potentials are not fully understood, and any thorough investigation demands the combined efforts of scientists drawn from many different disciplines. But the effects of heavy metals are not all negative: some, like cis-DDP, and some ruthenium and tin complexes, have antitumour activity. The idea underlying the present work is therefore to present a multidisciplinary perspective on heavy metals in the environment, affording a better understanding of their action on human organisms and health, aiming to make them less polluting and more environmentally friendly.

Metal ions and metal complexes have long been recognized as critically important components of nucleic acid chemistry, both in regulation of gene expression and as promising therapeutic agents. Understanding how metal complexes interact with DNA has become an active research area at the interface between chemistry, molecular biology and medicine.

"Metal Complex - DNA Interactions" provides a comprehensive overview of this increasingly diverse field, presenting recent developments and the latest research with particular emphasis on metal-based drugs and metal ion toxicity. The text is divided into four parts: "Basic Structural and Kinetic Aspects: " includes chapters on sequence-selective metal binding to DNA and thermodynamic models. "Medical Applications: " focuses on anticancer platinum drugs, including discussions on DNA repair in antitumor effects of platinum drugs and photo-dynamic therapy."DNA-Recognition - Nucleases and Sensor" describes probes for DNA recognition, artificial restriction agents, metallo-DNAzymes for metal sensing applications and metal ion dependent catalysis in nucleic acid enzymes."Toxicological Aspects: " deals with structural studies of mercury-DNA interactions, chromium-induced DNA damage and repair, and the effect of arsenic and nickel on DNA integrity.

This book will be a valuable resource for academic researchers and professionals from a range of pharmaceutical and chemical industries, particularly those involved in the development of new and less toxic anticancer metallo-drugs, and in the field of environmental and toxicological chemistry.