Dimethyl biladiene derivatives and their application as photodynamic therapy photosensitizers

Abstract

Photodynamic Therapy is an interesting and less invasive option for cancer treatment, and therefore it is an ongoing area of research. Photosensitizers capable of generating singlet oxygen are a required aspect of photodynamic therapy, however all currently known compounds possess certain undesirable traits which hinder their practical application and necessitates further efforts to develop improved photosensitizers with the optimal qualities for photodynamic therapy. We present the synthesis of a few different compounds inspired by the previously synthesized dimethyl biladiene framework, which efficiently produces singlet oxygen but fails to absorb sufficiently at long wavelengths of light. We synthesized and studied derivatives of this ligand designed to absorb deeper into the red and near IR regions of the spectrum. From the photophysical properties of these compounds we discuss their application as photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy.