Fungicidal properties of meso-arylglycosylporphyrins: influence of sugar substituents on photoinduced damage in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

A series of neutral meso-arylglycosylporphyrins has been tested in order to evaluate their potency as antifungal agents against the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Photodynamic activity of these molecules results in intracellular damage as evidenced by the loss of clonogenicity and DNA fragmentation. The ability of these photosensitizers to permeate yeast cells is determined by microspectrofluorimetry and is correlated with their antifungal potency. Amphiphilic porphyrin derivatives are shown to exhibit the more pronounced photoactivity.