Editorial: metal-complexed molecules of natural and synthetic origin: pharmacological advances and therapeutic applications

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in metal-based (particularly coordination) compounds owing to their structural variations and potential to be exploited for diverse biological applications. Many diseases, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic - caused by consecutive waves of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants - continue to have significant impact on healthcare systems worldwide. This Research Topic contains a collection of articles that include computational studies (particularly molecular docking to predict binding affinities and interactions of ligands to specific protein targets) and in vitro biological testing to evaluate the pharmacological potential of metal-complexed molecules.