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Pal AK, Datta A. First-principles design of heavy-atom-free singlet oxygen photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:164720. [PMID: 38682739 DOI: 10.1063/5.0196557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024] Open
Abstract
In photodynamic therapy (PDT) treatment, heavy-atom-free photosensitizers (PSs) are a great source of singlet oxygen photosensitizer. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced by an energy transfer from the lowest energy triplet excited state to the molecular oxygen of cancer cells. To clarify the photophysical characteristics in the excited states of a few experimentally identified thionated (>C=S) molecules and their oxygenated congeners (>C=O), a quantum chemical study is conducted. This study illustrates the properties of the excited states in oxygen congeners that render them unsuitable for PDT treatment. Concurrently, a hierarchy is presented based on the utility of the lowest-energy triplet excitons of thionated compounds. Their non-radiative decay rates are calculated for reverse-ISC and inter-system crossover (ISC) processes. In addition, the vibronic importance of C=O and C=S bonds is clarified by the computation of the Huang-Rhys factor, effective vibrational mode, and reorganization energy inside the Marcus-Levich-Jörtner system. ROS generation in thionated PSs exceeds their oxygen congeners as kf ≪ kISC, where radiative decay rate is designated as kf. As a result, the current work offers a calculated strategy for analyzing the effectiveness of thionated photosensitizers in PDT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arun K Pal
- School of Chemical Sciences, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, 2A and 2B Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700 032, West Bengal, India
| | - Ayan Datta
- School of Chemical Sciences, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, 2A and 2B Raja S. C. Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700 032, West Bengal, India
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Xie M, Ren SX, Hu D, Zhong JM, Luo J, Tan Y, Li YP, Si LP, Cao J. The impact of the chalcogen-substitution element and initial spectroscopic state on excited-state relaxation pathways in nucleobase photosensitizers: a combination of static and dynamic studies. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:27756-27765. [PMID: 37814579 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp03730d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/11/2023]
Abstract
The substitution of oxygen with chalcogen in carbonyl group(s) of canonical nucleobases gives an impressive triplet generation, enabling their promising applications in medicine and other emerging techniques. The excited-state relaxation S2(ππ*) → S1(nπ*) → T1(ππ*) has been considered the preferred path for triplet generation in these nucleobase derivatives. Here, we demonstrate enhanced quantum efficiency of direct intersystem crossing from S2 to triplet manifold upon substitution with heavier chalcogen elements. The excited-state relaxation dynamics of sulfur/selenium substituted guanines in a vacuum is investigated using a combination of static quantum chemical calculations and on-the-fly excited-state molecular dynamics simulations. We find that in sulfur-substitution the S2 state predominantly decays to the S1 state, while upon selenium-substitution the S2 state deactivation leads to simultaneous population of the S1 and T2,3 states in the same time scale and multi-state quasi-degeneracy region S2/S1/T2,3. Interestingly, the ultrafast deactivation of the spectroscopic S3 state of both studied molecules to the S1 state occurs through a successive S3 → S2 → S1 path involving a multi-state quasi-degeneracy S3/S2/S1. The populated S1 and T2 states will cross the lowest triplet state, and the S1 → T intersystem crossing happens in a multi-state quasi-degeneracy region S1/T2,3/T1 and is accelerated by selenium-substitution. The present study reveals the influence of both the chalcogen substitution element and initial spectroscopic state on the excited-state relaxation mechanism of nucleobase photosensitizers and also highlights the important role of multi-state quasi-degeneracy in mediating the complex relaxation process. These theoretical results provide additional insights into the intrinsic photophysics of nucleobase-based photosensitizers and are helpful for designing novel photo-sensitizers for real applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Xie
- School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy & Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, P. R. China
| | - Shuang-Xiao Ren
- School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy & Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, P. R. China
| | - Die Hu
- School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy & Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, P. R. China
| | - Ji-Meng Zhong
- School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy & Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, P. R. China
| | - Jie Luo
- School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy & Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, P. R. China
| | - Yin Tan
- School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy & Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, P. R. China
| | - Yan-Ping Li
- School of Medicine, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, P. R. China
| | - Li-Ping Si
- School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy & Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, P. R. China
| | - Jun Cao
- School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy & Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, P. R. China
- Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory of Computational Nano-Material Science, Guizhou Education University, Guiyang, Guizhou, 550018, P. R. China.
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Ortiz-Rodríguez LA, Fang YG, Niogret G, Hadidi K, Hoehn SJ, Folkwein HJ, Jockusch S, Tor Y, Cui G, Levi L, Crespo-Hernández CE. Thieno[3,4- d]pyrimidin-4(3 H)-thione: an effective, oxygenation independent, heavy-atom-free photosensitizer for cancer cells. Chem Sci 2023; 14:8831-8841. [PMID: 37621444 PMCID: PMC10445467 DOI: 10.1039/d3sc02592f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
All-organic, heavy-atom-free photosensitizers based on thionation of nucleobases are receiving increased attention because they are easy to make, noncytotoxic, work both in the presence and absence of molecular oxygen, and can be readily incorporated into DNA and RNA. In this contribution, the DNA and RNA fluorescent probe, thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4(1H)-one, has been thionated to develop thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4(3H)-thione, which is nonfluorescent and absorbs near-visible radiation with about 60% higher efficiency. Steady-state absorption and emission spectra are combined with transient absorption spectroscopy and CASPT2 calculations to delineate the electronic relaxation mechanisms of both pyrimidine derivatives in aqueous and acetonitrile solutions. It is demonstrated that thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4(3H)-thione efficiently populates the long-lived and reactive triplet state generating singlet oxygen with a quantum yield of about 80% independent of solvent. It is further shown that thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4(3H)-thione exhibits high photodynamic efficacy against monolayer melanoma cells and cervical cancer cells both under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Our combined spectroscopic, computational, and in vitro data demonstrate the excellent potential of thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4(1H)-thione as a heavy-atom-free PDT agent and paves the way for further development of photosensitizers based on the thionation of thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives. Collectively, the experimental and computational results demonstrate that thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidine-4(3H)-thione stands out as the most promising thiobase photosensitizer developed to this date.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ye-Guang Fang
- Key Lab of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry, Ministry of Education, Chemistry College, Beijing Normal University Beijing 100875 China
| | - Germain Niogret
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego La Jolla CA 92093 USA
| | - Kaivin Hadidi
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego La Jolla CA 92093 USA
| | - Sean J Hoehn
- Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University Cleveland OH 44106 USA
| | - Heather J Folkwein
- Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University Cleveland OH 44106 USA
| | - Steffen Jockusch
- Center for Photochemical Sciences, Bowling Green State University Bowling Green Ohio 43403 USA
| | - Yitzhak Tor
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego La Jolla CA 92093 USA
| | - Ganglong Cui
- Key Lab of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry, Ministry of Education, Chemistry College, Beijing Normal University Beijing 100875 China
| | - Liraz Levi
- Celloram Inc Cleveland OH 44106 USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Cleveland Ohio 44106 USA
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