Separation of enantiomers of chiral fullerene derivatives through enantioselective encapsulation within an adaptable helical cavity of syndiotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) with helicity memory

Optically active left (M)- and right (P)-handed helical syndiotactic poly(methyl methacrylate)s (M- and P-st-PMMAs) with a helicity memory enantioselectively encapsulated the racemic C60 derivatives, such as 3,4-fulleroproline tert-butyl ester (rac-1) and tetraallylated C60 (rac-2), as well as the C60-bound racemic 310-helical peptides (rac-3) within their helical cavities to form peapod-like inclusion complexes and a unique "helix-in-helix" superstructure, respectively. The enantiomeric excess (ee) and separation factor (enantioselectivity) (α) of the analyte 1 (ee = 23%-25% and α = 2.35-2.50) encapsulated within the helical cavities of the M- and P-st-PMMAs were higher than those of the analytes 2 and 3 (ee = 4.3%-6.0% and α = 1.28-1.50). The optically pure (S)- and (R)-1 were found to more efficiently induce an excess one-handed helical conformation in the st-PMMA backbone than the optically pure (S)- and (R)-1-phenylethylamine, resulting in intense mirror-image vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra in the PMMA IR regions. The excess one-handed helices induced in the st-PMMAs complexed with (S)- and (R)-1 were memorized after replacement with the achiral C60, and the complexes exhibited induced electric CDs in the achiral C60 chromophore regions.

"On-Off" Switching of Functional Guest Molecules via Exchange of Natural Product Solubilizing Agents

For the development of delivery systems, the solubilization of hydrophobic guest molecules in water is an important yet challenging task. This can be achieved by preparing stable aqueous solutions with a high concentration of guest molecules using a natural product as a solubilizing agent and a mechanochemical high-speed vibration milling apparatus as a solubilizing method. Various solubilizing agent-guest molecule complexes can be obtained via the exchange between solubilizing agents, which enables the "on-off" switching of the properties of functional guest molecules, such as fluorescence intensity, and photodynamic activity. In the exchange method, guest molecules can transfer into cell membranes such as lysosomes and exosomes. Therefore, the exchange method of the solubilizing agents not only creates novel solubilizing agent-guest molecule complexes but also is applied to drug delivery systems.

Photodynamic Activity of Fullerene Derivatives Solubilized in Water by Natural-Product-Based Solubilizing Agents

Water-soluble fullerenes prepared by using solubilizing agents based on natural products are promising photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy. Cyclodextrin, β-1,3-glucan, lysozyme, and liposomes can stably solubilize not only C₆₀ and C₇₀ , but also some C₆₀ derivatives in water. To improve the solubilities of fullerenes, specific methods have been developed for each solubilizing agent. Water-soluble C₆₀ and C₇₀ exhibit photoinduced cytotoxicity under near-ultraviolet irradiation, but not at wavelengths over 600 nm, which are the appropriate wavelengths for photodynamic therapy. However, dyad complexes of solubilized C₆₀ derivatives combined with light-harvesting antenna molecules improve the photoinduced cytotoxicities at wavelengths over 600 nm. Furthermore, controlling the fullerene and antenna molecule positions within the solubilizing agents affects the performance of the photosensitizer.

Improvement of Photodynamic Activity of Lipid-Membrane-Incorporated Fullerene Derivative by Combination with a Photo-Antenna Molecule

The weak absorbance of pristine C₆₀ , C₇₀ , and fullerene derivatives at wavelengths over 600 nm hampers the use of these molecules as photosensitizers (PSs) for photodynamic therapy (PDT). The coexistence of light-harvesting antenna molecules with a fullerene derivative in lipid membrane bilayers solved this issue. By controlling the location of the C₆₀ derivative in the lipid membrane, the liposomal dyad system for PDT improved the photodynamic activity via an efficient photoenergy transfer from antenna molecules to the fullerene derivative. The photodynamic activity was found to be much higher than those of dyad systems using pristine C₆₀ and C₇₀ .

On the mechanism of mechanochemical molecular encapsulation in peptidic capsules

Molecular encapsulation of C₆₀ inside a hydrogen-bond-sealed semi-flexible peptidic capsule is hindered in solution, yet it proceeds effectively after mechanical milling of a solid sample. We show that the molecular mechanism involves the generation of non-covalently disordered forms that are active in guest uptake. We also show that the solvent-free mechanochemical covalent synthesis of capsules directly results in obtaining disordered, active forms.

Incorporation of large guest molecules into liposomes via chemical reactions in lipid membranes

The incorporation of hydrophobic guest molecules into lipid membranes by the exchange of the guest molecule from a cyclodextrin (CDx) complex to a liposome is limited to guest molecules that can be included in CDxs. To solve this problem, large guest molecules were incorporated into liposomes by chemical reactions of guest molecules in lipid membranes. Stable lipid-membrane-incorporated fullerene derivatives with large substituent(s) were prepared by Diels-Alder reactions in lipid membranes.