chlorophyll-a and bacteriochlorin

Covering: up to 2018 Chlorophylls, bacteriochlorophylls and related hydroporphyrins constitute invaluable natural products but have largely remained outside the scope of viable syntheses. The campaign toward chlorophyll a by Woodward and coworkers is a deservedly celebrated landmark in organic synthesis yet the route entailed 49 steps, relied on semisynthetic replenishment of advanced intermediates, and then pointed to (but did not implement) uncertain literature procedures for the final transformations. Indeed, the full synthesis at any scale of any (bacterio)chlorophylls - conversion of small-molecule starting materials to the product - has never been accomplished. Herein, the reported syntheses of (±)-bonellin dimethyl ester (0.93 mg) and tolyporphin A O,O-diacetate (0.38 mg), as well as the never-fully traversed route to chlorophyll a, have been evaluated in a quantitative manner. Bonellin and tolyporphin A are naturally occurring chlorin and bacteriochlorin macrocycles, respectively, that lack the characteristic fifth ring of (bacterio)chlorophylls. A practical assessment is provided by the cumulative reaction mass efficiency (cRME) of the entire synthetic process. The cRME for the route to chlorophyll a would be 4.3 × 10-9 (230 kg of all reactants and reagents in total would yield 1.0 mg of chlorophyll a), whereas that for (±)-bonellin dimethyl ester or tolyporphin A O,O-diacetate is approximately 6.4 × 10-4 or 3.6 × 10-5, respectively. Comparison of the three syntheses reveals insights for designing hydroporphyrin syntheses. Development of syntheses with cRME > 10-5 (if not 10-4), as required to obtain 10 mg quantities of hydroporphyrin for diverse physicochemical, biochemical and medicinal chemistry studies, necessitates significant further advances in tetrapyrrole chemistry.

Topics: Chlorophyll; Macrocyclic Compounds; Molecular Structure; Porphyrins

C3-(Trans-2-arylethenyl)carbonylated chlorophyll derivatives possessing a bacteriochlorin or chlorin π-system were synthesized by cross-aldol (Claisen-Schmidt) condensation of methyl pyrobacteriopheophorbide-a or 3-acetyl-3-devinyl-pyropheophorbide-a bearing the C3-acetyl group with p-(un)substituted benzaldehydes under basic conditions. The corresponding porphyrin-type chlorophyll derivatives were prepared by the oxidation (17,18-didehydrogenation) of the chlorin-type. Their Qy absorption and fluorescence emission maxima in dichloromethane correlated well with Hammett substituent constants of the p-substituents. Several electron-withdrawing p-substituents suppressed the emission due to photoinduced electron transfer quenching in a molecule. The substitution sensitivities for their maxima and fluorescence quantum yields decreased in the order of bacteriochlorin-, chlorin- and porphyrin-type derivatives.

Topics: Chalcone; Chlorophyll; Mass Spectrometry; Porphyrins; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet

Zinc complex of pyropheophorbide-b, a derivative of chlorophyll-b, was covalently dimerized through ethylene glycol diester. The synthetic homo-dyad was axially ligated with two methanol molecules from the β-face and both the diastereomerically coordinating methanol species were hydrogen bonded with the keto-carbonyl groups of the neighboring chlorin in a complex. The resulting folded conformer in a solution was confirmed by visible, (1) H NMR and IR spectra. All the synthetic zinc chlorin homo- and hetero-dyads consisting of pyropheophorbides-a, b and/or d took the above methanol-locked and π-π stacked supramolecules in 1% (v/v) methanol and benzene to give redmost (Qy) electronic absorption band(s) at longer wavelengths than those of the corresponding monomeric chlorin composites. The other zinc chlorin and bacteriochlorin homo-dyads completely formed similar folded conformers in the same solution, while zinc inverse chlorin and porphyrin homo-dyads partially took such supramolecules. The J-type aggregation to folded conformers and the redshift values of composite Qy bands were dependent on the electronic and steric factors of porphyrinoid moieties in dyads.

Topics: Chlorophyll; Molecular Conformation; Porphyrins; Zinc

Demetalation of three synthetic zinc cyclic tetrapyrroles that possess identical peripheral substituents, zinc methyl bacteriopyropheophorbide a (zinc bacteriochlorin 1), zinc methyl 3-devinyl-3-acetyl-pyropheophorbide a (zinc chlorin 2), and zinc methyl 3-devinyl-3-acetyl-protopyropheophorbide a (zinc porphyrin 3), was kinetically analyzed under acidic conditions to examine the effects of macrocyclic structures on demetalation without peripheral substitution effects. Zinc bacteriochlorin 1 exhibited much slower demetalation kinetics than zinc chlorin 2 and zinc porphyrin 3. These results indicate that the bacteriochlorin skeleton provides significant resistance to the removal of the central metal from the tetrapyrrole ligand. Comparison of demetalation kinetics of 3-acetyl zinc complexes 2 and 3 with that of 3-vinyl zinc complexes under the same reaction condition demonstrated that the relative ratio (5.0 × 10(-2)) of the demetalation rate constant of the 3-acetyl zinc chlorin 2 to that of the corresponding 3-vinyl zinc chlorin 4 resembled the case of the 3-acetyl zinc porphyrin 3 to the 3-vinyl zinc porphyrin 5 (the relative ratio was 6.8 × 10(-2)). These suggest that the electron-withdrawing 3-acetyl group slows down the demetalation from the tetrapyrrole ligands more than the 3-vinyl group and that the 3-acetyl effect is analogous in both chlorin and porphyrin π-systems.

Topics: Chlorophyll; Kinetics; Porphyrins; Tetrapyrroles; Zinc

This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) in treating colonic cancer in a preclinical study. Photofrin, a porphyrin mixture, and pheophorbide a (Ph a), a bacteriochlorin, were tested on HT29 human colonic tumor cells in culture and xenografted into athymic mice. Their pharmacokinetics were investigated in vitro, and the PDT efficacy at increasing concentrations was determined with proliferative, cytotoxic and apoptotic assessments. The in vivo distribution and pharmacokinetics of these dyes (30 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) were investigated on HT29 tumor-bearing nude mice. The inhibition of tumor growth after a single 100 J/cm2 PDT session was measured by the changes in tumor volume and by histological analysis of tumor necrosis. PDT inhibited HT29 cell growth in culture. The cell photodamage occurred since the time the concentrations of Ph a and Photofrin reached 5.10(-7) M (or 0.3 microg/mL) and 10 microg/mL, respectively. A photosensitizer dose-dependent DNA fragmentation was observed linked to a cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and associated with an increased expression of mutant-type p53 protein. PDT induced a 3-week delay in tumor growth in vivo. The tumor injury was corroborated by histological observation of necrosis 48 h after treatment, with a correlated loss of specific enzyme expression in most of the tumor cells. In conclusion, PDT has the ability to destroy human colonic tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. This tumoricidal effect is likely associated with a p53-independent apoptosis, as HT29 cells express only mutated p53. The current study suggests a preferential use of Photofrin in PDT of colonic cancer because it should be more effective in vivo than Ph a as a consequence of better tumor uptake.

Topics: Animals; Chlorophyll; Colonic Neoplasms; Dihematoporphyrin Ether; Humans; Male; Mice; Mice, Nude; Photochemotherapy; Photosensitizing Agents; Porphyrins; Transplantation, Heterologous; Tumor Cells, Cultured