Crown Ether Dyes - Potential Light-Controlled Selective Regulators of Transmembrane Transport of Metal ions. Dimer Formation for Dye/Mg2+ Complexes Probed by Serrs Spectroscopy

Benzothiazolium dyes containing a crown ether ring are able to complex selectively metal ions in solution. The dyes exhibit strong photochromism which allows the efficiency of their complexation with metal ions to be controlled by light. Hence, being reconstructed into the lyposomes or into the cellular membrane, the dyes could play a role of potential light-controlled selective regulators of transmembrane transport of metal ions. The molecular background of the processes of dye-ion complexation and dyes photoisomerisation should be investigated in the range of concentrations 10-5–10-8 M if the overall patterns of dye structure-function relationships in terms of their biological applications need to be clarified.