Issue 14, 2016

Inorganic sulfur–nitrogen compounds: from gunpowder chemistry to the forefront of biological signaling

Abstract

The reactions between inorganic sulfur and nitrogen-bearing compounds to form S–N containing species have a long history and, besides assuming importance in industrial synthetic processes, are of relevance to microbial metabolism; waste water treatment; aquatic, soil and atmospheric chemistry; and combustion processes. The recent discovery that hydrogen sulfide and nitric oxide exert often similar, sometimes mutually dependent effects in a variety of biological systems, and that the chemical interaction of these two species leads to formation of S–N compounds brought this chemistry to the attention of physiologists, biochemists and physicians. We here provide a perspective about the potential role of S–N compounds in biological signaling and briefly review their chemical properties and bioactivities in the context of the chronology of their discovery. Studies of the biological role of NO revealed why its chemistry is ideally suited for the tasks Nature has chosen for it; realising how the distinctive properties of sulfur can enrich this bioactivity does much to revive ‘die Freude am experimentellen Spiel’ of the pioneers in this field.

Graphical abstract: Inorganic sulfur–nitrogen compounds: from gunpowder chemistry to the forefront of biological signaling

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
27 dec 2015
Accepted
12 feb 2016
First published
15 feb 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Dalton Trans., 2016,45, 5908-5919

Author version available

Inorganic sulfur–nitrogen compounds: from gunpowder chemistry to the forefront of biological signaling

M. M. Cortese-Krott, A. R. Butler, J. D. Woollins and M. Feelisch, Dalton Trans., 2016, 45, 5908 DOI: 10.1039/C5DT05034K

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