Macromolecules ContainingMetal and Metal-LikeElements (Vol. 3: BiomedicalApplications)

ByA. S. Abd-El-Aziz,

C. E. Carraher Jr.,

C. U. Pittman Jr.,

J. E. Sheats, M.

Zeldin (Eds.)

Wiley Interscience,

2004, hardcover, 218

pages, 96 s, ISBN:0-471-66737-4

The ten first pages of the first chapter,

‘‘Organometallic Compounds in Bio-

medical Applications’’, are devoted to

metal-containing polymers, with five

introductory pages on small-molecule

analogues. The next chapter (25 pages)

is much more interesting and describes

metal-labeled DNA on surfaces. It is

followed by a smaller chapter of ten

pages devoted to the incorporation of a

metallo-base pair into DNA. Chapter 4

(22 pages), ‘‘Organotin Macromole-

cules as Anticancer Drugs’’, starts

with a discussion of the anticancer

activity of small organotin compounds

(8 pages). The main criticism that

needs to be given here is that recent

references are not cited at all. The first

sentence of that chapter states that

‘‘The use of organotin-containing com-

pounds as potential drugs in the war

against cancer has occurred since the

early 1970s with some but only mild

success[1–35].’’, whereas, in recent

papers (Metal-Based Drugs 1998, 5,189; J. Organomet. Chem. 1999, 582,195; Appl. Organomet. Chem. 2002,16, 481), very active water-soluble

organotin compounds have been re-

ported. Only the last five pages of that

chapter are devoted to the anticancer

activity of organotin polymers. Chap-

ter 5 describes organotin oligomeric

drugs containing acyclovir and could

have been included in the preceding

chapter. Chapter 6 is devoted to poly-

meric ferrocene conjugates as antipro-

liferative agents, whereas chapter 7

describes polymeric platinum-contain-

ing drugs in the treatment of cancer.

This chapter starts with thirteen pages

devoted to very general statements that

can be found in any book, review or

chapter on platinum drugs. Fifty-one

much more interesting pages on the

polymer drug conjugation strategy

constitute the main part of that chapter.

New organic polyacid-inorganic com-

posites for improved dental materials

are the topic of the last chapter

(13 pages). Charles Carraher is one of

the authors of four of the eight chapters.

The remaining four chapters have been

written by Henz-Benhar Kraatz, Yitao

Long, Todd Sutherland; Mitsuhiko

Shinoya; Eberhard Neuse; Bill Culber-

son,MinhhoaDotrong,ScottSchricker.

Marcel Gielen

Brussels (Belgium)

Macromol. Chem. Phys. 2005, 206, 1332 DOI: 10.1002/macp.200500188 � 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

1332 Book Review