Nanoparticles of water-soluble dyads based on amino acid fullerene C60 derivatives and pyropheophorbide: Synthesis, photophysical properties, and photodynamic activity

Synthesis, spectral properties, and photodynamic activity of water-soluble amino acid fullerene C₆₀ derivatives (AFD) and four original AFD-PPa dyads, obtained by covalent addition of dye pyropheophorbide (PPa) to AFD, were studied. In aqueous solution, these AFD-PPa dyads form nanoassociates as a result of self-assembly. In this case, a significant change in the absorption spectra and strong quenching of the dye fluorescence in the structure of the dyads were observed. A comparison of superoxide or singlet oxygen generation efficiency of the studied compounds in an aqueous solution showed the photodynamic mechanism switching from type II (singlet oxygen generation of the native dye) to I type (superoxide generation of dyads). All dyads have pronounced phototoxicity on cells Hela with IC₅₀ 9.2 µM, 9.2 µM, 12.2 µM for dyads Val-C₆₀-PPa, Ala-C₆₀-PPa and Pro-C₆₀-PPa, respectively. Such facilitation of type I photodynamic mechanism could be perspective against hypoxic tumors.

Conformational polymorphs of 22-cyano-N-methyl-5-phenylpent-2-en-4-ynamide

Although the two polymorphic modifications, (I) and (II), of the title compound, C(13)H(10)N(2)O, crystallize in the same space group (P2(1)/c), their asymmetric units have Z' values of 1 and 2, respectively. These are conformational polymorphs, since the molecules in phases (I) and (II) adopt different rotations of the phenyl ring with respect the central 2-cyanocarboxyaminoprop-2-enyl fragment. Calculations of crystal packing using Cerius(2) [Molecular Simulations (1999). 9685 Scranton Road, San Diego, CA 92121, USA] have shown that (I) is more stable than (II), by 1.3 kcal mol(-1) for the crystallographically determined structures and by 1.56 kcal mol(-1) for the optimized structures (1 kcal mol(-1) = 4.184 kJ mol(-1)). This difference is mainly attributed to the different strengths of the hydrogen bonding in the two forms.