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Simple Summary: Carbon dots (CDs) are carbon-based nanomaterials with versatile applications, including fluorescence imaging, drug and gene transport, drug delivery, medical diagnosis, and biosensing. In this study, we successfully synthesized various CDs without significantly impacting the cell viability of cancer cells, which suggests the potential for future bioimaging and drug delivery applications. These findings contribute to advancing the potential of CDs in various biomedical research contexts. Backgroung: The rising complexity and associated side effects of cancer treatments highlight the need for safer and more effective therapeutic agents. Carbon-based nanomaterials such as CDs have been gaining prominence for their unique characteristics, opening avenues for diverse applications such as fluorescence imaging, drug and gene transport, controlled drug delivery, medical diagnosis, and biosensing. Despite promising advancements in research, it remains imperative to scrutinize the properties and potential cytotoxicity of newly developed CDs, ensuring their viability for these applications. Methods: We synthesized four N-doped CDs through a hydrothermal method. Cell viability assays were conducted on A549 and UM-UC-5 cancer cells at a range of concentrations and incubation times, both individually and with the chemotherapeutic agent 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Results: The obtained results suggest that the newly developed CDs exhibit suitability for applications such as bioimaging, as no significant impact on cell viability was observed for CDs alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioluminescence (BL) and chemiluminescence (CL) are remarkable processes in which light is emitted due to (bio)chemical reactions. These reactions have attracted significant attention for various applications, such as biosensing, bioimaging, and biomedicine. Some of the most relevant and well-studied BL/CL systems are that of marine imidazopyrazine-based compounds, among which Coelenterazine is a prime example. Understanding the mechanisms behind efficient chemiexcitation is essential for the optimization and development of practical applications for these systems. Here, the CL of a fluorinated Coelenterazine analog was studied using experimental and theoretical approaches to obtain insight into these processes. Experimental analysis revealed that CL is more efficient under basic conditions than under acidic ones, which could be attributed to the higher relative chemiexcitation efficiency of an anionic dioxetanone intermediate over a corresponding neutral species. However, theoretical calculations indicated that the reactions of both species are similarly associated with both electron and charge transfer processes, which are typically used to explain efficiency chemiexcitation. So, neither process appears to be able to explain the relative chemiexcitation efficiencies observed. In conclusion, this study provides further insight into the mechanisms behind the chemiexcitation of imidazopyrazinone-based systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is a very challenging disease to treat, both in terms of therapeutic efficiency and harmful side effects, which continues to motivate the pursuit for novel molecules with potential anticancer activity. Herein, we have designed, synthesized, and evaluated the cytotoxicity of different brominated coelenteramines, which are metabolic products and synthesis precursors of the chemi-/bioluminescent system of marine coelenterazine. The evaluation of the anticancer potential of these molecules was carried out for both prostate and breast cancer, while also exploring their potential for use in combination therapy. Our results provided further insight into the structure–activity relationship of this type of molecule, such as their high structural specificity, as well highlighting the 4-bromophenyl moiety as essential for the anticancer activity. The obtained data also indicated that, despite their similarity, the anticancer activity displayed by both brominated coelenteramines and coelenterazines should arise from independent mechanisms of action. Finally, one of the studied coelenteramines was able to improve the profile of a known chemotherapeutic agent, even at concentrations in which its anticancer activity was not relevant. Thus, our work showed the potential of different components of marine chemi-/bioluminescent systems as novel anticancer molecules, while providing useful information for future optimizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemi- and bioluminescence are remarkable light-emitting phenomena, in which thermal energy is converted into excitation energy due to a (bio)chemical reaction. Among a wide variety of chemi-/bioluminescent systems, one of the most well-known and studied systems is that of marine imidazopyrazinones, such as Coelenterazine and Cypridina luciferin. Due to the increasing usefulness of their chemi-/bioluminescent reactions in terms of imaging and sensing applications, among others, significant effort has been made over the years by researchers to develop new derivatives with enhanced properties. Herein, we report the synthesis and chemiluminescent characterization of a novel dibrominated Coelenterazine analog. This novel compound consistently showed superior luminescence, in terms of total light output and emission lifetime, to natural imidazopyrazinones and commercially available analogs in aprotic media, while being capable of yellow light emission. Finally, this new compound showed enhanced chemiluminescence in an aqueous solution when triggered by superoxide anion, showing potential to be used as a basis for optimized probes for reactive oxygen species. In conclusion, bromination of the imidazopyrazinone scaffold appears to be a suitable strategy for obtaining Coelenterazines with enhanced properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intramolecular chemiexcitation of high-energy peroxide intermediates, such as dioxetanones, is an essential step in different chemi- and bioluminescent reactions. Here, we employed the Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT) methodology to evaluate if and how external stimuli tune the intramolecular chemiexcitation of model dioxetanones. More specifically, we evaluated whether the strategic placement of ionic species near a neutral dioxetanone model could tune its thermolysis and chemiexcitation profile. We found that these ionic species allow for the "dark" catalysis of the thermolysis reaction by reducing the activation barrier to values low enough to be compatible with efficient chemi- and bioluminescent reactions. Furthermore, while the inclusion of these species negatively affected the chemiexcitation profile compared with neutral dioxetanones, these profiles appear to be at least as efficient as anionic dioxetanones. Thus, our results demonstrated that the intramolecular chemiexcitation of neutral dioxetanones can be tuned by external stimuli in such a way that their activation barriers are decreased. Thus, these results could help to reconcile findings that neutral dioxetanones could be responsible for efficient chemi-/bioluminescence, while being typically associated with high activation parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dioxetanone is one of the prototypical cyclic peroxide intermediates in several chemiluminescent and bioluminescent systems, in which thermolysis reactions allow efficient singlet chemiexcitation. While the chemiexcitation mechanism of dioxetanone and peroxide intermediates is still far from understood, the presence of a peroxide bond that undergoes bond breaking has been found to be a constant. Here we have addressed the following questions: can other non-peroxide bonds lead to chemiexcitation and, if not, can the differences between dioxetanone and non-peroxide derivatives help to elucidate their chemiexcitation mechanism? To this end, we have used a reliable TD-DFT approach to model the thermolysis and chemiexcitation of a model dioxetanone and its three other non-peroxide derivatives. The results showed that only the dioxetanone molecule could lead to chemiluminescence as it is the only one for which thermolysis is energetically favorable and provides a pathway for singlet chemiexcitation. Finally, the chemiexcitation of the model dioxetanone is explained by its access, during thermolysis, to a biradical region where the ground and excited states are degenerate. This occurs due to an increased interaction between the reaction fragments, which extends the biradical regions and delays the rupture of the peroxide ring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The anticancer activity of Coelenterazine and Coelenteramine analogs was studied. • These two types of analogs showed differences in anticancer activity; • Coelenterazine analogs showed time-independent and safer activity. • Their activity appears to be correlated with their chemiluminescence properties. • Coelenteramine analogs showed time-dependent and moiety-dependent activity. Cancer is still one of the most challenging diseases to treat, making the pursuit for novel molecules with potential anticancer activity an important research topic. Herein, we have performed a comparative investigation into the anticancer activity of analogs of marine coelenterazine and coelenteramine. The former is a well-known bioluminescent substrate, while the latter is a metabolic product of the resulting bioluminescent reaction. While both types of analogs showed anticancer activity toward lung and gastric cancer cell lines, we have obtained data that highlight relevant differences between the activity of these two types of compounds. More specifically, we observed relevant differences in structure–activity relationships between these types of compounds. Also, coelenteramine analogs showed time-dependent activity, while coelenterazine-based compounds usually present time-independent activity. Coelenterazine analogs also appear to be relatively safer toward noncancer cells than coelenteramine analogs. There was also seen a correlation between the activity of the coelenterazine-based compounds and their light-emission properties. Thus, these results further indicate the potential of the marine coelenterazine chemi-/bioluminescent system as a source of new molecules with anticancer activity, while providing more insight into their modes of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Imidazopyrazinone is a typical scaffold present in marine bioluminescence, in which thermal energy is converted into excitation energy in an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. In fact, the imidazopyrazinone scaffold is a common link among organisms of eight phyla. The characterization of the light emission mechanism is essential for the development of future applications in bioimaging, bioanalysis and biomedicine. Herein, we have studied the chemiluminescent reaction of three commercially-available imidazopyrazinones (Cypridina luciferin, Coelenterazine and Coelenterazine-e) in several aprotic solvents at different pH. We have found that at acidic pH only DMF and DMSO consistently present high light emission, while chemiluminescence in other solvents is negligible. We have attributed this to the inability of most solvents to allow for the deprotonation of the imidazopyrazinone core, thereby preventing the oxygenation step. We have also observed that increasing the pH of the solution leads to the inhibition of chemiluminescence, which we attributed to the deprotonation of the dioxetanone intermediate, as the neutral species is the one associated with efficient chemiexcitation. We have also observed that the pK a of dioxetanone increases with the dielectric constant of the medium. Finally, our work indicated that the chemiexcitation yield increases with increasing polarity of the medium, due to a reduced transition dipole moment associated with S 0 → S 1 transition. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • The chemiluminescence of three imidazopyrazinones was studied comparatively. • At acidic pH, efficient chemiluminescence was only found in DMF and DMSO. • Easy deprotonation of imidazopyrazinone is required for the oxygenation step. • High pK a for dioxetanone allows for efficient chemiexcitation in a higher pH range. • Also, chemiexcitation does required small reorganization energy for solvation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coelenterazine is a common substrate used by marine species in enzyme-catalyzed bioluminescent reactions, in which thermal energy is converted into excitation energy. Coelenterazine is also known to emit chemiluminescence, in the absence of enzymes. Moreover, the scaffold of this molecule is present in organisms of eight phyla , making it a prototypical system for marine chemi-/bioluminescence. The characterization of the chemiexcitation step responsible for light emission is essential for future applications in bioimaging, bioanalysis and biomedicine. We have found evidence to support the identification of a neutral dioxetanone intermediate as the responsible for efficient chemiexcitation. This is explained by attractive electrostatic interactions between the CO 2 and Coelenteramide moieties, which allow the reacting dioxetanone to spend time in a PES region of degeneracy between singlet ground and excited states. Contrary to expected, there is no relationship between electron (ET)/charge (CT) transfer, from an electron-rich moiety to the peroxide, and efficient chemiexcitation. Thus, neither Chemically Induced Electron-Exchange Luminescence (CIEEL) nor Charge Transfer-Initiated Luminescence (CTIL) can be used to explain imidazopyrazinone-based chemi-/bioluminescence. We have also found a concentration-dependent quenching effect, more prevalent at acidic pH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is a very challenging disease to treat, both in terms of treatment efficiency and side-effects. To overcome these problems, there have been extensive studies regarding the possibility of improving treatment by employing combination therapy, and by exploring therapeutic modalities with reduced side-effects (such as photodynamic therapy (PDT)). Herein, this work has two aims: (i) to develop self-activating photosensitizers for use in light-free photodynamic therapy, which would eliminate light-related restrictions that this therapy currently possesses; (ii) to assess their co-treatment potential when combined with reference chemotherapeutic agents (Tamoxifen and Metformin). We synthesized three new photosensitizers capable of self-activation and singlet oxygen production via a chemiluminescent reaction involving only a cancer marker and without requiring a light source. Cytotoxicity assays demonstrated the cytotoxic activity of all photosensitizers for prostate and breast tumor cell lines. Analysis of co-treatment effects revealed significant improvements for breast cancer, producing better results for all combinations than just for the individual photosensitizers and even Tamoxifen. By its turn, co-treatment for prostate cancer only presented better results for one combination than for just the isolated photosensitizers and Metformin. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the cytotoxicity of the isolated photosensitizers in prostate tumor cells was already very appreciable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of research, it is still not clear what is the mechanism behind the efficient chemiexcitation of dioxetanones in chemiluminescent and bioluminescent reactions. In fact, long‐standing theories (charge transfer‐initiated luminescence and chemically induced electron‐exchange luminescence) have been demonstrated to not be able to explain this phenomenon. Herein, a theoretical approach using reliable and up‐to‐date methodology was used to address this problem, by focusing on model dioxetanones. Time‐dependent (TD)‐Density functional theory (DFT) and multireference complete‐active‐space second‐order perturbation theory (CASPT2) calculations provided evidence that points to efficient intramolecular chemiexcitation being the result of the reacting molecules having access to a long zone of the Potential energy surface (PES), within the biradicalar region, where S0 and S1 are degenerate. Molecules with inefficient chemiexcitation are unable to reach this zone of degeneracy. Our main finding is that access to the region of degeneracy appears to be given due to increased interaction between the keto and CO2 moieties, as supported by the use of the activation strain model and Born‐Oppenheimer molecular dynamics, which extends the biradical region by delaying the rupture of the peroxide ring. Increased interaction derives from attractive electrostatic interactions between the moieties of dioxetanone. Thus, we hypothesize that efficient chemiexcitation results not only from electron/charge transfer and subsequent charge annihilation but is instead based on the degree of interaction between the keto and CO2 moieties, which controls the access to a region of degeneracy between the ground and excited states. Efficient chemiexcitation results from attractive interaction between the keto and CO2 moieties of dioxetanone, which delays the detachment of CO2. This allows the reacting molecule to access a zone of degeneracy between the ground and excited states, within the biradical region of the thermolysis reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bioluminescent reaction of the "sea firefly" Cypridina hilgendorfii is a prototypical system for marine bioluminescence, as its substrate possesses an imidazopyrazinone core that is a common link among organisms of eight phyla. The elucidation of the mechanism behind Cypridina bioluminescence is essential for future applications in bioimaging, biomedicine, and bioanalysis. In this study we have investigated the key step of chemiexcitation with a combined experimental and theoretical approach. The obtained results indicate that neutral dioxetanone is responsible for efficient chemiexcitation, as the thermolysis of this species gives access to a long region of the potential energy surface (PES), where the ground and excited singlet states are degenerated. Contrary to expected, neither chemically induced electron-exchange luminescence (CIEEL) nor charge transfer-initiated luminescence (CTIL) can be used to explain imidazopyrazinone-based bioluminescence, as there is no clear relationship between electron (ET)/charge (CT) transfer (occurring between the electron-rich moiety and dioxetanone) and chemiexcitation. Attractive electrostatic interactions between the CO2 and oxyluciferin moieties allow neutral dioxetanone to spend time in the PES region of degeneracy, while repulsive interactions for anionic dioxetanone lead to a quicker CO2 detachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is still a challenging disease to treat, both in terms of harmful side effects and therapeutic efficiency of the available treatments. Herein, to develop new therapeutic molecules, we have investigated the anticancer activity of halogenated derivatives of different components of the bioluminescent system of marine Coelenterazine: Coelenterazine (Clz) itself, Coelenteramide (Clmd), and Coelenteramine (Clm). We have found that Clz derivatives possess variable anticancer activity toward gastric and lung cancer. Interestingly, we also found that both brominated Clmd (Br-Clmd) and Clm (Br-Clm) were the most potent anticancer compounds toward these cell lines, with this being the first report of the anticancer potential of these types of molecules. Interestingly, Br-Clm possessed some safety profile towards noncancer cells. Further evaluation revealed that the latter compound induced cell death via apoptosis, with evidence for crosstalk between intrinsic and extrinsic pathways. Finally, a thorough exploration of the chemical space of the studied Br-Clm helped identify the structural features responsible for its observed anticancer activity. In conclusion, a new type of compounds with anticancer activity toward gastric and lung cancer was reported and characterized, which showed interesting properties to be considered as a starting point for future optimizations towards obtaining suitable chemotherapeutic agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While photodynamic therapy is known for significant advantages over conventional cancer therapies, its dependence on light has limited it to treating tumors on or just under the skin or on the outer lining of organs/cavities. Herein, we have developed a single-molecule photosensitizer capable of intracellular self-activation and with potential tumor-selectivity due to a chemiluminescent reaction involving only a cancer marker. Thus, the photosensitizer is directly chemiexcited to a triplet excited state capable of generating singlet oxygen, without requiring either a light source or any catalyst/co-factor. Cytotoxicity assays involving the photosensitizer show significant toxicity toward tumor cells, even better than reference drugs, while not inducing toxicity toward normal cells. This work provides a proof-of-concept for a novel type of photosensitizer that eliminates the current restrictions that photodynamic therapy presents regarding tumor size and localization. Image 1 • A single-molecule photosensitizer was developed for photodynamic therapy of cancer. • Self-activation is achieved by a chemiluminescent reaction with a cancer marker. • Tumor cytotoxicity is achieved, while no toxicity was found for healthy cells. • The therapeutic effect is even better than for reference drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]