2010/01/01 by Lalla A. Ba, Mandy Döring, Vincent Jamier +1 · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Nursing · Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics · #Organoselenium and organotellurium chemistry #Selenium in Biological Systems #Thallium and Germanium Studies
paper · doi:10.1039/c0ob00086h
openalex publication_date 2010/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Tellurium has long appeared as a nearly 'forgotten' element in Biology, with most studies focusing on tellurite, tellurate and a handful of organic tellurides. During the last decade, several discoveries have fuelled a renewed interest in this element. Bioincorporation of telluromethionine provides a new approach to add heavy atoms to selected sites in proteins. Cadmium telluride (CdTe) nanoparticles are fluorescent and may be used as quantum dots in imaging and diagnosis. The antibiotic properties of tellurite, long known yet almost forgotten, have attracted renewed interest, especially since the biochemical mechanisms of tellurium cytotoxicity are beginning to emerge. The close chemical relationship between tellurium and sulfur also transcends into in vitro and in vivo situations and provides new impetus for the development of enzyme inhibitors and redox modulators, some of which may be of interest in the field of antibiotics and anticancer drug design.