Search

The synthesis of ruthenium(II) phthalocyanines (RuPcs) endowed with one carbohydrate unit-that is, glucose, galactose and mannose-and a dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) ligand at the two axial coordination sites, respectively, is described. Two series of compounds, one unsubstituted at the periphery, and the other one bearing eight PEG chains at the isoindole meta-positions, have been prepared. The presence of the axial DMSO unit significantly increases the phthalocyanine singlet oxygen quantum yields, related to other comparable RuPcs. The compounds have been evaluated for PDT treatment in bladder cancer cells. In vitro studies have revealed high phototoxicity for RuPcs unsubstituted at their periphery. The phototoxicity of PEG-substituted RuPcs has been considerably improved by repeated light irradiation. The choice of the axial carbohydrate introduced little differences in the cellular uptake for both series of photosensitizers, but the phototoxic effects were considerably higher for compounds bearing mannose units.

This is a short essay arguing for a new comparative definition to the central analytic concept of filiation. Not only is the word used with different meanings in French and English, but it also bears in its use complex ideological implications that need to be unearthed. By using the example of a sermon heard in Bahia (NE Brazil) given by a woman who had no father, the paper proposes a view on filiation that depends on the notions of participation and personal ontogeny.

A new photochromic fused 2H-chromene that has a dehydropyran bridge between the pyran double bond and the benzene ring was prepared. Unlike standard 2H-chromenes that give rise to two coloured species (one short- and one long-lived) under UV irradiation, flash photolysis studies on this particular 2H-chromene show that the opening of the pyran ring led to the formation of a single, coloured, open species that bleaches to the uncoloured initial form in H-chromene avoids the formation of the undesirable long-lived, transoid-trans, coloured, open form; therefore, the colour fades very quickly, according to monoexponential kinetics, without the persistence of any residual colour commonly observed in 2H-chromenes. Acid treatment of 4-[(ethoxycarbonyl)methyl]-2H-chromenes led to the formation of lactones.

Two p-phenylenevinylene (PV) trimers, containing 3'-methylbutyloxyl (in MBOPV3) and 2'-ethylhexyloxyl (in EHOPV3) side chains, are used as model compounds of PV-based conjugated polymers (PPV) with the purpose of clarifying the origin of fast (picosecond time) components observed in the fluorescence decays of poly[2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV). The fluorescence decays of MBOPV3 and EHOPV3 reveal the presence of similar fast components, which are assigned to excited-state conformational relaxation of the initial population of non-planar trimer conformers to lower-energy, more planar conformers. The rate constant of conformational relaxation k(CR) is dependent on solvent viscosity and temperature, according to the empirical relationship k(CR)=aeta(o) (-alpha)exp(-alphaE(eta)/RT), where aeta(o) (-alpha) is the frequency factor, eta(o) is the pre-exponential coefficient of viscosity, E(eta) is the activation energy of viscous flow. The empirical parameter alpha, relating the solvent microscopic friction involved in the conformational change to the macroscopic solvent friction (alpha=1), depends on the side chain. The fast component in the fluorescence decays of MEH-PPV polymers (PPVs), is assigned to resonance energy transfer from short to longer polymer segments. The present results call for revising this assignment/interpretation to account for the occurrence of conformational relaxation, concurrently with energy transfer, in PPVs.

The complexation of beta-carboline-3-carboxylic acid N-methylamide (betaCMAM) with the sodium salts of the nucleotides polyadenylic (Poly A), polycytidylic (Poly C), polyguanylic (Poly G), polythymidylic (Poly T) and polyuridylic (Poly U) acids, and with double stranded (dsDNA) and single stranded deoxyribonucleic acids (ssDNA) was studied at pH 4, 6 and 9. Predominant 1:1 complex formation is indicated from Job plots. Association constants were determined using the Benesi-Hildebrand equation. BetaCMAM-sensitized singlet oxygen quantum yields were determined at pH 4, 6 and 9, and the effects on this of adding oligonucleotides, dsDNA and ssDNA were studied at the three pH values. With dsDNA, the effect on betaCMAM triplet state formation was also determined through triplet-triplet transient absorption spectra. To evaluate possible oxidative damage of DNA following singlet oxygen betaCMAM photosensitization, we used thiobarbituric acid-reactivity assays and electrophoretic separation of DNA assays. The results showed no oxidative damage at the level of DNA degradation or strand break.

The synthesis and comprehensive characterization of the excited states of four novel triphenylamine–benzimidazole derivatives has been undertaken in solution (ethanol and methylcyclohexane) at room temperature. This includes the determination of the absorption, fluorescence, and triplet–triplet absorption spectra, together with quantum yields of fluorescence, internal conversion, intersystem crossing, and singlet oxygen. From the overall data the radiative and radiationless rate constants could be obtained, and it is shown that the compounds are highly emissive with the radiative decay dominating, with more than 70% of the quanta loss through this deactivation channel. The basic structure of the triphenylamine–benzimidazole derivatives (1a) was modified at position 5 of the heterocyclic moiety with electron-donating (OH (1b), OCH3 (1c)) or electron-withdrawing groups (CN, (1d)). It was found that the photophysical properties remain basically unchanged with the different substitutions, although a marked St...