Tellurium (Te) is widely used in industry. Tellurium (IV) compounds present antitumoral, immunomodulatory and neuroprotective effects due to their ability to inhibit cysteine proteases. Tellurium (IV) compounds exert anticonvulsant effects associated with the inhibition of caspases. Thus, organotellurium (IV) possesses a promising therapeutic potential as antiepileptogenic agents.

Palladium is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal. Palladium has the lowest melting point and is the least dense of platinum group metals. The primary use for palladium is in catalytic converters for the automotive industry. Palladium-based complexes are appealing alternative metal-based drugs because of significant similarities regarding structure and coordination chemistry with the platinum agents. Research suggests that one of the big reasons for the negative side effects of most anti-cancer drugs could be the use of the metal platinum as the core element in most of them. There is, however, evidence that the side-effects could be minimised by replacing it with a close metal relative, palladium. Currently, palladium complexes are being studied for their anti-cancer activity. Palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) have attracted wide attention owing to their multifaceted utility in catalysis, sensors, and biomedical applications. Their therapeutic spectrum includes anticancer, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antidiabetic, antioxidant potential which rationalizes the exploration of diverse physical, chemical, and biological routes for fabrication.

Glucuronic acid is a sugar acid that was first identified in urine. It is an intermediate metabolite of the uronic acid pathway. Moreover, glucuronic acid is involved in detoxification of certain drugs and toxins by conjugating with them and forming glucuronides. Glucuronic acid has been found to cause an increase in TLR4-dependent reporter protein expression in a cell line transfected with TLR4 and associated co-signaling molecules, and can cause TLR4-dependent pain in humans.

For a long time, platinum has been used in the design and manufacture of a range of medical implants and in clinically used platinum drugs with a central platinum(II) atom. After losing the respective leaving group and subsequent substitution with water, the positively charged molecules are nucleophilically targeted by the free electrons of the N7 atom of purines to form intrastrand and interstrand adducts. The established mechanisms of action of platinum drugs comprise platination of genomic and mitochondrial DNA. This leads to a hindrance of DNA-based functions (e.g., transcription, replication, etc.). Such cellular dysfunction eventually causes apoptosis, especially when DNA lesions cannot be repaired. Platinum-based anticancer drugs play a central role in cancer therapy. However, their applicability and efficacy are limited by drug resistance and adverse effects. Nanocarrier-based platinum drug delivery systems are promising alternatives to circumvent the disadvantages of bare platinum drugs.

Clodronate (also known as clodronic acid) is a drug used to treat a high level of calcium in the blood caused by changes in the body that happen with cancer. Clodronate is approved in some countries and is sold under trade trade name bonefos for oral use. Bonefos is indicated in the management of osteolytic lesions, hypercalcemia and bone pain associated with skeletal metastases in patients with carcinoma of the breast or multiple myeloma. Bonefos is also indicated for the maintenance of clinically acceptable serum calcium levels in patients with hypercalcemia of malignancy initially treated with an intravenous bisphosphonate. Bonefos forms complexes with divalent metal ions, and therefore simultaneous administration with food, antacids and mineral supplements may impair absorption. It was suggested, that the mechanism of action of clodronate was involved osteoclast apoptosis.

Cytosine is a pyrimidine nucleobase, one of the five main bases of nucleic acids. In DNA and RNA cytosine is paired with guanine. Only small amounts of cytosine administered with food are incorporated in DNA. The majority of cytosine is synthesized de-novo starting from carbamoyl phosphate.