THE CHEMISTRY OF BORON ANALOGS OF BIOMOLECULES

Boron not only appears to be an essential trace element in living systems (1,2) but has also been found as a constituent of some antibiotics such as boromycin (3) and asplamomycin (4). However over the past 50 years, there have been other incentives to incorporate boron into biologically active molecules, particularly for applications such as the boroneutrotherapy treatments of certain cancers. Considering the increasing interest in the biological applications of such boron containing biomolecules, and hence in their syntheses, the time seems appropriate to review their chemistry (5-7).