Therapeutic Cu: Advanced Complexes and Nanomaterials for Cancer Treatment

ABSTRACT Cu based complexes and nanomaterials have attracted immense interest owing to their rich redox chemistry, biological relevance, and tunable coordination and photophysical properties. These properties enable them to disrupt intracellular redox balance, reactive oxygen species generation, and hampering tumor‐specific metabolic pathways. Thus, copper‐based structures are well suitable for chemotherapeutic, photodynamic and X‐ray induced photodynamic therapies. This review summarizes recent advances in Cu(I/II) molecular complexes and how ligand design controls redox behavior, photochemical response, cellular uptake, and biological activity. By a systematic evaluation of molecular and nanoscale systems this review highlights Cu‐based architectures that deliver superior efficacy across different therapeutic strategies and suggests general guidelines for the future design strategies.