Review New Antimicrobial Strategies Based on Metal Complexes Mickaël Claudel, Justine V. Schwarte and Katharina M. Fromm * Department of Chemistry, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 9, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland;
[email protected] (M.C.);
[email protected] (J.V.S.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +41-26-300-8732; Fax: +41-26-300-9738 Received: 13 August 2020; Accepted: 12 October 2020; Published: 16 October 2020 Abstract: Traditional organic antimicrobials mainly act on specific biochemical processes such as replication, transcription and translation. However, the emergence and wide spread of microbial resistance is a growing threat for human beings. Therefore, it is highly necessary to design strategies for the development of new drugs in order to target multiple cellular processes that should improve their efficiency against several microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses or fungi. The present review is focused on recent advances and findings of new antimicrobial strategies based on metal complexes. Recent studies indicate that some metal ions cause different types of damages to microbial cells as a result of membrane degradation, protein dysfunction and oxidative stress. These unique modes of action, combined with the wide range of three-dimensional geometries that metal complexes can adopt, make them suitable for the development of new antimicrobial drugs. Keywords: metal complexes; new antimicrobial strategies; metallo-drugs; silver; copper; zinc; iron; ruthenium; gallium; bismuth; vanadium; synergic effects 1. Introduction The search for new active antimicrobial compounds is of growing interest since the current clinical pipeline remains insufficient to tackle the challenge of increasing emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance.