Bioinorganic chemistry is a field that examines the role of
metals in biology. Bioinorganic chemistry includes the study of both natural phenomena such as the behavior of
metalloproteins as well as artificially introduced metals, including those that are
non-essential, in medicine and toxicology. Many
biological processes such as
respiration depend upon molecules that fall within the realm of
inorganic chemistry. The discipline also includes the study of inorganic models or mimics that imitate the behaviour of metalloproteins.