Antivitamins B -Some Inaugural Milestones.

The recently delineated structure- and reactivity-based concept of antivitamins B has begun to bear fruit by the generation, and study, of a range of such B -dummies, either vitamin B -derived, or transition metal analogues that also represent potential antivitamins B or specific B -antimetabolites. As reviewed here, this has opened up new research avenues in organometallic B -chemistry and bioinorganic coordination chemistry. Exploratory studies with antivitamins B have, furthermore, revealed some of their potential, as pharmacologically interesting compounds, for inducing B -deficiency in a range of organisms, from hospital resistant bacteria to laboratory mice. The derived capacity of antivitamins B to induce functional B -deficiency in mammalian cells and organs also suggest their valuable potential as growth inhibitors of cancerous human and animal cells.