Synergistic Energy-Harvesting Coumarin Photocages Enabling Lysosomal pH Rescue

21 June 2024, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

Light-triggered molecular tools releasing bioactive actuators with high spatial and temporal control have prompted significant advances in optobiology. Such probes however require high levels of photosensitivity at biocompatible wavelengths to trigger a biological response safely and efficiently. Here, we propose synergistic, multi-chromophoric, water-soluble systems in which quadrupolar antennas sensitize a coumarinyl photocage, delivering a carboxylic acid payload upon one-photon (visible) or two-photon excitation in the biological transparency near-infrared (NIR) window. Strikingly, the molecular design promotes a 50 % increase in photo-cleavage quantum yield, leading to record photosensitivity for NIR-triggered release of acetic acid. We further demonstrated that these molecular tools efficiently rescue impaired lysosomal pH in a genetic cellular model of Parkinson’s disease. These photoactivated tools are therefore promising candidates for the phototherapeutic management of neurodegenerative diseases

Keywords

Caged compounds
Lysosomal pH
FRET
Photolabile Protecting Group
Parkinson’s disease

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
Actions
Title
Electronic Supplementary Information
Description
I. Synthesis1 1. Materials and methods 1 2. Synthetic procedures and characterization 2 a. Synthesis of the graftable DEAC450 derivative 2 b. Synthesis of the antennas 7 c. Synthesis of the triads 12 d. Synthesis of the reference compounds for photolysis 17 II. One- and two-photon photophysical studies 19 1. Materials and Methods 19 2. Optical properties of the lipophilic compounds 20 3. Optical properties of the hydrophilic compounds 21 4. Förster radius 23 5. FRET efficiency 24 III. Comparative photolysis experiments 25 1. Materials & methods 25 2. 1H NMR Follow-up 26 IV. Dark stability experiments 27 V. In vitro lysosomal photo-acidification experiment 28 1. Cell culture and Cell viability Assay 28 2. Lysosomal pH Measurement 28 3. Statistics 28
Actions

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.