LASU: An efficient and stable phthalocyanine dye with tolerable safety profile for self-disinfecting anti-COVID textiles activated by ambient light.

BACKGROUND: Recent COVID crisis has demonstrated that modern society urgently needs an accessible protection against mass infections, especially viruses, as the new strains are appearing at an ever-increasing pace and cause severe harm to the population and the world economy. METHODS: We have developed an efficient phthalocyanine photosensitizer LASU, that is suitable for dyeing textiles and allows to prepare reusable self-disinfecting fabrics with strong antiviral properties. The safety profile of LASU was evaluated in accredited laboratories by several in vitro assays according to the OECD-guidelines. RESULTS: The textiles impregnated with LASU phthalocyanine showed a significant antiviral photodynamic effect even under moderate indoor and outdoor light. The dye did not show any genotoxic potential in human lymphocyte micronucleus assay. It showed a possible indication for eye irritation in human EpiOcular™ model and was phototoxic when tested in mouse BALB/c 3T3 cell test in the presence and absence of UVA-irradiation. CONCLUSION: Novel phthalocyanine-dyed textiles are suitable for general use as self-disinfecting antiviral barriers and materials in hospitals, households, and public places. The safety profile of LASU is the phototoxic effect which is related to LASU´s mode of action.

Fur glowing under ultraviolet: in situ analysis of porphyrin accumulation in the skin appendages of mammals.

Examples of photoluminescence (PL) are being reported with increasing frequency in a wide range of organisms from diverse ecosystems. However, the chemical basis of this PL remains poorly defined, and our understanding of its potential ecological function is still superficial. Among mammals, recent analyses have identified free-base porphyrins as the compounds responsible for the reddish ultraviolet-induced photoluminescence (UV-PL) observed in the pelage of springhares and hedgehogs. However, the localization of the pigments within the hair largely remains to be determined. Here, we use photoluminescence multispectral imaging emission and excitation spectroscopy to detect, map, and characterize porphyrinic compounds in skin appendages in situ. We also document new cases of mammalian UV-PL caused by free-base porphyrins in distantly related species. Spatial distribution of the UV-PL is strongly suggestive of an endogenous origin of the porphyrinic compounds. We argue that reddish UV-PL is predominantly observed in crepuscular and nocturnal mammals because porphyrins are photodegradable. Consequently, this phenomenon may not have a specific function in intra- or interspecific communication but rather represents a byproduct of potentially widespread physiological processes.

Terbium-Based AGuIX-Design Nanoparticle to Mediate X-ray-Induced Photodynamic Therapy.

X-ray-induced photodynamic therapy is based on the energy transfer from a nanoscintillator to a photosensitizer molecule, whose activation leads to singlet oxygen and radical species generation, triggering cancer cells to cell death. Herein, we synthesized ultra-small nanoparticle chelated with Terbium (Tb) as a nanoscintillator and 5-(4-carboxyphenyl succinimide ester)-10,15,20-triphenyl porphyrin (P1) as a photosensitizer (AGuIX@Tb-P1). The synthesis was based on the AGuIX@ platform design. AGuIX@Tb-P1 was characterised for its photo-physical and physico-chemical properties. The effect of the nanoparticles was studied using human glioblastoma U-251 MG cells and was compared to treatment with AGuIX@ nanoparticles doped with Gadolinium (Gd) and P1 (AguIX@Gd-P1). We demonstrated that the AGuIX@Tb-P1 design was consistent with X-ray photon energy transfer from Terbium to P1. Both nanoparticles had similar dark cytotoxicity and they were absorbed in a similar rate within the cells. Pre-treated cells exposure to X-rays was related to reactive species production. Using clonogenic assays, establishment of survival curves allowed discrimination of the impact of radiation treatment from X-ray-induced photodynamic effect. We showed that cell growth arrest was increased (35%-increase) when cells were treated with AGuIX@Tb-P1 compared to the nanoparticle doped with Gd.

The TDDFT Excitation Energies of the BODIPYs; The DFT and TDDFT Challenge Continues.

The derivatives of 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY) are pivotal ingredients for a large number of functional, stimuli-responsive materials and therapeutic molecules based on their photophysical properties, and there is a urgent need to understand and predict their optical traits prior to investing a large amount of resources in preparing them. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) computations were performed to calculate the excitation energies of the lowest-energy singlet excited state of a large series of common BODIPY derivatives employing various functional aiming at the best possible combination providing the least deviations from the experimental values. Using the common "fudge" correction, a series of combinations was investigated, and a methodology is proposed offering equal or better performances than what is reported in the literature.

Prototropically Allosteric Probe for Superbly Selective DNA Analysis.

Selective nucleotide recognition for biosensor evolution requires rational probe design toward the binding-pattern-susceptible readout but without serious poison in selectivity from the context sequences. In this work, we synthesized a dual-function (trihydroxyphenyl)porphyrin (POH3) to target the abasic site (AP site) in ds-DNA using the trihydroxyphenyl substituent and the tetrapyrrole macrocycle as the recognition unit (RU) and the fluorescent signal unit (SU), respectively. RU and SU are separated from each other but are prototropically allosteric. We found that an appropriate pH favors formation of the nonfluorescent quinine/pyrrole (O-NH) conformer of POH3. However, the complementary hydrogen bonding of RU in O-NH with the target cytosine opposite the AP site switches on the SU fluorescence through prototropic allostery toward the phenol/isopyrrole (OH-N) conformer, while the bases thymine, guanine, and adenine totally silence this allostery, suggesting a superb selectivity in single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis. The role of the prototropic allostery in achieving such SNP selectivity is also evidenced using porphyrins with other hydroxyl substituent patterns. Because of the SU separation from RU, SU is not directly involved in the interaction with the AP site, and thus, the turn-on selectivity is also realized for DNA with flanking guanine, the most easily oxidized base in DNA. This tolerance to the flanking base identity has seldom been achieved in previous studies. Additionally, other DNA structures cannot bring this allostery, indicating that the combination recipe of the AP site design and the prototropically allosteric probe will find wide applications in DNA-based sensors.

Control over the oxidative reactivity of metalloporphyrins. Efficient electrosynthesis of meso,meso-linked zinc porphyrin dimer.

The electrochemical oxidation of zinc(II) 5,15-p-ditolyl-10-phenylporphyrin at its first oxidation potential leads to the formation of the corresponding meso-meso porphyrin dimer as the main product. The number of electrons abstracted, the addition of the hindered base 2,6-lutidine as well as operating in DMF, instead of a CH(2)Cl(2)/CH(3)CN mixture are the key parameters to obtain high yields of the desired coupling product. Indeed, when the electrolyses are carried out in the CH(2)Cl(2)/CH(3)CN mixture, the unexpected zinc(II) 5-chloro-10,20-p-ditolyl-15-phenyl porphyrin is produced as a by-product, the chlorine atom originating from the CH(2)Cl(2) solvent. The monomer and the dimer are characterised by electrochemical analysis. The signature of the dimer is clearly distinguished on the cyclic voltammogram of the monomer on condition of the prior addition of 2,6-lutidine as a hindered base, indicating that the dimerisation process is thus strongly accelerated. Besides, unprecedented X-ray crystallographic structures of the monomer and the meso-meso dimer are presented and their respective structural parameters are compared.

Dynamics of closure of zinc bis-porphyrin molecular tweezers with copper(II) ions and electron transfer.

Zinc bis-porphyrin molecular tweezers composed of a N(4) spacer bound through pyridyl units to the meso position of porphyrins were synthesized, and the tweezers are closed by the coordination of a copper(II) ion inside the spacer ligand. The effect of the π-π interaction between the porphyrin rings in the closed conformation on the absorption spectra of multi-electron oxidized species and the reduction potentials were clarified by chemical and electrochemical oxidation of the closed form of the zinc bis-porphyrin molecular tweezers in comparison with the open form without copper(II) ion and the corresponding porphyrin monomer. The shifts in redox potentials and absorption spectrum of the porphyrin dication indicate a strong electronic interaction between the two oxidized porphyrins in the closed form, whereas there is little interaction between them in the neutral form. The dynamics of copper(II) ion coordination and subsequent electron transfer was examined by using a stopped-flow UV/Vis spectroscopic technique. It was confirmed that coordination of copper(II) occurs prior to electron-transfer oxidation of the closed form of the zinc bis-porphyrin molecular tweezers.

Facile formation of a meso-meso linked porphyrin dimer catalyzed by a manganese(IV)-oxo porphyrin.

A manganese(IV)-oxo porphyrin catalyzes C-C bond formation between zinc porphyrins at the meso-position with a two-electron oxidant to afford the meso-meso linked porphyrin dimer efficiently. The meso-meso linked dimer is formed via formation of the porphyrin radical cation, and the rate-determining step in the catalytic cycle is the formation of a manganese(IV)-oxo porphyrin with a two-electron oxidant.

Three-metal coordination by novel bisporphyrin architectures.

The synthesis and characterization of a new type of bisporphyrin system is reported where the two macrocycles are linked in a cofacial arrangement by a substituted carbazole bridge. The three nitrogen atoms of the carbazole bridge in the compounds may complex a metal ion and thus provide a new parameter for varying the physical properties and flexibility of the dyad after formation of a three-metal system. In the present study, four bis-metalloporphyrin complexes were synthesized and examined by electrochemistry and thin-layer spectroelectrochemistry in CH(2)Cl(2) and PhCN. Two of the examined compounds contain Cu(II) or Zn(II) porphyrins and a carbazole linker with a bound Cu(II) ion, giving a three metal system, while the other two examined compounds contained the same porphyrins but with a carbazole bridge which lacks the Cu(II) component. Since carbazoles and Cu(II) ions are both electroactive, redox properties of several unlinked carbazoles with and without bound Cu(II) ions were also examined as to their electrochemical behavior under the same solution conditions as the dyads to better understand the redox reactions which may occur at the carbazole group linking the two porphyrin macrocycles. Several mononuclear porphyrins with structures related to macrocycles in the dyads were also investigated.

Dioxygen reduction by cobalt(II) octaethylporphyrin at liquid|liquid interfaces.

Oxygen reduction catalyzed by cobalt(II) (2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaethylporphyrin) [Co(OEP)] at soft interfaces is studied by voltammetry and biphasic reactions. When Co(OEP) is present in a solution of 1,2-dichloroethane in contact with an aqueous acidic solution, oxygen is reduced if the interface is positively polarized (water phase versus organic phase). This reduction reaction is facilitated when an additional electron donor, here ferrocene, is present in excess in the organic phase.