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Steinmüller SAM, Odaybat M, Galli G, Prischich D, Fuchter MJ, Decker M. Arylazobenzimidazoles: versatile visible-light photoswitches with tuneable Z-isomer stability. Chem Sci 2024; 15:5360-5367. [PMID: 38577348 PMCID: PMC10988581 DOI: 10.1039/d3sc05246j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Benzimidazole heterocycles are of great importance in medicinal chemistry due to their applicability to a wide range of pharmacological targets, therefore representing a prototypical "privileged structure". In photopharmacology, azoheteroarene photoswitches have emerged as valuable tools for a variety of applications due to the high tuneability of their photophysical properties. Benzimidazole-based photoswitches could therefore enable the optically-controlled investigation of many pharmacological targets and find application in materials science. Here we report a combined experimental and computational investigation of such arylazobenzimidazoles, which allowed us to identify derivatives with near-quantitative bidirectional photoswitching using visible light and highly tuneable Z-isomer stability. We further demonstrate that arylazobenzimidazoles bearing a free benzimidazole N-H group not only exhibit efficient bidirectional photoswitching, but also excellent thermal Z-isomer stability, contrary to previously reported fast-relaxing Z-isomers of N-H azoheteroarenes. Finally, we describe derivatives which can be reversibly isomerized with cyan and red light, thereby enabling significantly "red-shifted" photocontrol over prior azoheteroarenes. The understanding gained in this study should enable future photopharmacological efforts by employing photoswitches based on the privileged benzimidazole structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie A M Steinmüller
- Pharmazeutische und Medizinische Chemie, Institut für Pharmazie und Lebensmittelchemie, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Am Hubland 97074 Würzburg Germany
| | - Magdalena Odaybat
- Department of Chemistry, Molecular Sciences Research Hub, White City Campus, Imperial College London London W12 0BZ UK
| | - Giulia Galli
- Pharmazeutische und Medizinische Chemie, Institut für Pharmazie und Lebensmittelchemie, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Am Hubland 97074 Würzburg Germany
| | - Davia Prischich
- Department of Chemistry, Molecular Sciences Research Hub, White City Campus, Imperial College London London W12 0BZ UK
| | - Matthew J Fuchter
- Department of Chemistry, Molecular Sciences Research Hub, White City Campus, Imperial College London London W12 0BZ UK
| | - Michael Decker
- Pharmazeutische und Medizinische Chemie, Institut für Pharmazie und Lebensmittelchemie, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Am Hubland 97074 Würzburg Germany
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Bhunia S, Jana SK, Sarkar S, Das A, Mandal S, Samanta S. Direct Growth Control of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Using Visible-Light-Responsive Novel Photoswitchable Antibiotics. Chemistry 2024; 30:e202303685. [PMID: 38217466 DOI: 10.1002/chem.202303685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 01/15/2024]
Abstract
In addition to the discovery of new (modified) potent antibiotics to combat antibiotic resistance, there is a critical need to develop novel strategies that would restrict their off-target effects and unnecessary exposure to bacteria in our body and environment. We report a set of new photoswitchable arylazopyrazole-modified norfloxacin antibiotics that present a high degree of bidirectional photoisomerization, impressive fatigue resistance and reasonably high cis half-lives. The irradiated isomers of most compounds were found to exhibit nearly equal or higher antibacterial activity than norfloxacin against Gram-positive bacteria. Notably, against norfloxacin-resistant S. aureus bacteria, the visible-light-responsive p-SMe-substituted derivative showed remarkably high antimicrobial potency (MIC of 0.25 μg/mL) in the irradiated state, while the potency was reduced by 24-fold in case of its non-irradiated state. The activity was estimated to be retained for more than 7 hours. This is the first report to demonstrate direct photochemical control of the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and to show the highest activity difference between irradiated and non-irradiated states of a photoswitchable antibiotic. Additionally, both isomers were found to be non-harmful to human cells. Molecular modellings were performed to identify the underlying reason behind the high-affinity binding of the irradiated isomer to topoisomerase IV enzyme.
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Affiliation(s)
- Supriya Bhunia
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta, 92 A.P.C. Road, Kolkata, 700009, West Bengal, India
| | - Santosh Kumar Jana
- Department of Microbiology, University of Calcutta, 35-Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata, 700019, West Bengal, India
| | - Soumik Sarkar
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta, 92 A.P.C. Road, Kolkata, 700009, West Bengal, India
| | - Arpan Das
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta, 92 A.P.C. Road, Kolkata, 700009, West Bengal, India
| | - Sukhendu Mandal
- Department of Microbiology, University of Calcutta, 35-Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata, 700019, West Bengal, India
| | - Subhas Samanta
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta, 92 A.P.C. Road, Kolkata, 700009, West Bengal, India
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Hu H, Liu Y, Li J, Zhang C, Gao C, Sun C, Du Y, Hu B. Phenolylazoindole scaffold for facilely synthesized and bis-functional photoswitches combining controllable fluorescence and antifungal properties using theoretical methods. Org Biomol Chem 2024; 22:1225-1233. [PMID: 38231009 DOI: 10.1039/d3ob01751f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2024]
Abstract
Functionalization is a major challenge for the application of photoswitches. With the aim to develop novel bis-functional azo photoswitches with stationary photophysical properties, a series of phenolylazoindole derivatives were designed, synthesized, and characterized via NMR spectroscopy studies and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). Herein, UV/Vis and 1H NMR spectra revealed that the photostationary state (PSS) proportions for PSScis and PSStrans were 76-80% and 68-81%, respectively. Furthermore, the thermal half-lives (t1/2) of compounds A2-A4 and B2 ranged from 0.9 to 5.3 h, affected by the diverse substituents at the R1 and R2 positions. The results indicated that azo photoswitches based on the phenolylazoindole scaffold had stationary photophysical properties and wouldn't be excessively affected by modifying the functional groups. Compounds A4 and B2, which were modified with an aryl group, also exhibited fluorescence emission properties (the quantum yields of A4 and B2 were 2.32% and 13.34%) through the modification of the flexible conjugated structure (benzene) at the R2 position. Significantly, compound C1 was obtained via modification with a pharmacophore in order to acquire antifungal activities against three plant fungi, Rhizoctonia solani (R. solani), Botrytis cinerea (B. cinerea), and Fusarium graminearum (F. graminearum). Strikingly, the inhibitory activity of the cis-isomer of compound C1towards R. solani (53.3%) was significantly better than that of the trans-isomer (34.2%) at 50 μg mL-1. In order to further reveal the antifungal mechanism, molecular docking simulations demonstrated that compound C1 effectively integrates into the cavity of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH); the optically controlled cis-isomer showed a lower binding energy with SDH than that of the trans-isomer. This research confirmed that phenolylazoindole photoswitches can be appropriately applied as molecular regulatory devices and functional photoswitch molecules via bis-functionalization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haoran Hu
- School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China.
| | - Yu Liu
- College of Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
| | - Junqi Li
- School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China.
| | - Chong Zhang
- School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China.
| | - Chao Gao
- School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China.
| | - Chengguo Sun
- School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China.
| | - Yang Du
- School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China.
| | - Bingcheng Hu
- School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China.
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Dolai A, Box SM, Bhunia S, Bera S, Das A, Samanta S. Photoisomerization of 2-Arylazoimidazoles under Visible Light: Identifying a Predictive Tool to Anticipate and Tune Likely Photoswitching Performance and Cis Half-Life. J Org Chem 2023. [PMID: 37368413 DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.3c00211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Azopyrazoles are an emerging class of photoswitches, whereas analogous azoimidazole-based switches are unable to draw much attention because of their short cis half-lives, poor cis-trans photoreversion yields, and toxic ultraviolet (UV) light-assisted isomerization. A series of 24 various aryl-substituted N-methyl-2-arylazoimidazoles were synthesized, and their photoswitching performances and cis-trans isomerization kinetics were thoroughly investigated experimentally and theoretically. Para-π-donor-substituted azoimidazoles with highly twisted T-shaped cis conformations showed nearly complete bidirectional photoswitching, whereas di-o-substituted switches exhibited very long cis half-lives (days-years) with nearly ideal T-shaped conformations. This study demonstrates how the electron density in the aryl ring affects cis half-life and cis-trans photoreversion via twisting of the NNAr dihedral angle that can be used as a predictive metric for envisaging and tuning the likely switching performance and half-life of any given 2-arylazoimidazole. By applying this tool, two better-performing azoimidazole photoswitches were engineered. All switches permitted irradiation by violet (400-405 nm) and orange (>585 nm) light for forward and reverse isomerization, respectively, and displayed comparatively high quantum yields and impressive resistance to photobleaching.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anirban Dolai
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta, 92, A. P. C. Road, Kolkata 700009, West Bengal, India
| | - Sk Majid Box
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta, 92, A. P. C. Road, Kolkata 700009, West Bengal, India
| | - Supriya Bhunia
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta, 92, A. P. C. Road, Kolkata 700009, West Bengal, India
| | - Satyajit Bera
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta, 92, A. P. C. Road, Kolkata 700009, West Bengal, India
| | - Arpan Das
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta, 92, A. P. C. Road, Kolkata 700009, West Bengal, India
| | - Subhas Samanta
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta, 92, A. P. C. Road, Kolkata 700009, West Bengal, India
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