This thesis describes the design of new pharmacophore ligands and their metal complexes as ATP-competitive inhibitors of the ATP binding site of protein kinases. In these metal complexes the planar pharmacophore ligand occupies the adenine binding pocket of the kinase and the metal fragment addresses the ribose binding pocket. Following this strategy, three new classes of metallo-quinolinemaleimide, metallo-pyridylnaphthalimide and metallo-pyridylphthalimide inhibitors have been developed and investigated with respect to their coordination chemistry and their action as protein kinase inhibitors.
