Ag+ complexes as potential therapeutic agents in medicine and pharmacy.

Silver is a non-essential element, with promising antimicrobial and anticancer properties. This work is a detailed summary of the newest findings on the bioinorganic chemistry of silver, with a special focus on the applications of Ag+ complexes and nanoparticles. The coordination chemistry of silver is given a reasonable amount of attention, summarizing the most common silver binding sites and giving examples of such binding motifs in biologically important proteins. Possible applications of this metal and its complexes in medicine, in particular as antibacterial and antifungal agents and in cancer therapy is discussed in detail. The most recent data on silver nanoparticles are also summarized.