Nitroaromatic compounds (ArNO2) maintain their importance in relation to industrial processes, environmental pollution, and pharmaceutical application. The manifestation of toxicity/therapeutic action of nitroaromatics may involve their single- or two-electron reduction performed by various flavoenzymes and/or their physiological redox partners, metalloproteins. The pivotal and still incompletely resolved questions in this area are the identification and characterization of the specific enzymes that are involved in the bioreduction of ArNO2 and the establishment of their contribution to cytotoxic/therapeutic action of nitroaromatics. This review addresses the following topics: (i) the intrinsic redox properties of ArNO2, in particular, the energetics of their single- and two-electron reduction in aqueous medium; (ii) the mechanisms and structure-activity relationships of reduction in ArNO2 by flavoenzymes of different groups, dehydrogenases-electrontransferases (NADPH:cytochrome P-450 reductase, ferredoxin:NADP(H) oxidoreductase and their analogs), mammalian NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase, bacterial nitroreductases, and disulfide reductases of different origin (glutathione, trypanothione, and thioredoxin reductases, lipoamide dehydrogenase), and (iii) the relationships between the enzymatic reactivity of compounds and their activity in mammalian cells, bacteria, and parasites.
Keywords: bioreductive activation; cytotoxicity; flavoenzymes; nitroaromatic compounds; oxidative stress.