All-Photonic Control of Biorelevant Processes using Molecular Photoswitches and Caged Compounds
Doctoral thesis, 2015

The development of light-controlled molecular tools for in situ regulation of biological activity holds great promise e.g. for resolving dynamic aspects of cellular signal transduction and to overcome inherent pharmaceutic limitations such as poor drug selectivity. In this thesis, photoswitchable molecules from the spiropyran, dithienylethene, and azobenzene families as well as an o-nitrobenzyl-type caged compound were used in a variety of constellations intended for biological use. The presented research ranges from spectroscopic studies on isolated molecular interactions in solution to photoactivated kinase inhibition in live zebrafish. The first part of this thesis focuses on novel approaches for photocontrolled drug release, based on a supramolecular competitive binding methodology. Two host-guest systems were investigated for this purpose; a dithienylehtene – porphyrin dimer, and a spiropyran – cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) system. In the first investigated system, it was found that drug release could be reversibly controlled by light. The spectral properties of the release scaffold also provided a fluorescence-based reporting function. In the second system, an unexpected loss of spiropyran bistability was observed upon complexation to CB7. Also, the undesired hydrolysis of the spiropyran photoswitch was completely halted when bound to the macrocycle. The spiropyran hydrolysis reaction was further examined in a separate study, also included in this thesis. The second and thirds parts focus on photocontrolled small-molecules introduced to living systems. This includes a study on the cytotoxic properties of a DNA-binding spiropyran in live human cancer cells. It was demonstrated how cell-death could be selectively triggered by photoisomerizing the spiropyran to the merocyanine form inside the cells. Part three focuses on photocontrolled inhibition of the, for cancer highly relevant, REarranged during Transfection (RET) kinase. An azobenzenederived photoswitch and an o-benzyl-type caged inhibitor based on the pyrazolopyrimidine scaffold were developed and evaluated. Both compounds exhibited light-controlled RET inhibition in an isolated enzyme- and live cell assay. The caged compound was also used to photonically activate inhibition of RET in live zebrafish, confirming uptake and decaging of the compound inside the live organism.

dithienylethene

azobenzene

drug release

kinase inhibitor

spiropyran

caged compound

live cell

spectroscopy

o-nitrobenzyl

photoswitch

HB1-salen, Hörsalsvägen 8, Chalmers
Opponent: Neil Branda

Author

Jesper Nilsson

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biochemistry

A photoswitchable supramolecular complex with release-and-report capabilities

Chemical Communications,; Vol. 51(2015)p. 847-850

Journal article

Light-induced cytotoxicity of a photochromic spiropyran

Chemical Communications,; Vol. 47(2011)p. 11020-11022

Journal article

Characterization of the thermal and photoinduced reactions of photochromic spiropyrans in aqueous solution

Journal of Physical Chemistry B,; Vol. 117(2013)p. 13561-71

Journal article

Areas of Advance

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (SO 2010-2017, EI 2018-)

Life Science Engineering (2010-2018)

Subject Categories

Physical Chemistry

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Medical Biotechnology (with a focus on Cell Biology (including Stem Cell Biology), Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Biochemistry or Biopharmacy)

ISBN

978-91-7597-180-3

Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska högskola. Ny serie: 3861

HB1-salen, Hörsalsvägen 8, Chalmers

Opponent: Neil Branda

More information

Created

10/8/2017