Design, synthesis and antitumor activities of chlorin p6 ether derivatives as photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy / 药学实践杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To designe, synthesize a series of chlorin p6 ether photosensitizers and preliminarily investigate their photodynamic antitumor activity based on previous research results that alkoxyl ether derivatives of 3-vinyl on chlorin f exhibited stronger photosensitive antitumor activity than parent compound. Methods Purpurin-18 (4) was obtained by oxidative degradation with air and alkali on pheophorbide a (5) which was prepared through acid hydrolysis of chlorophyll a from crude chlorophyll extracts in Chinese traditional herb named Silkworm excrement. Then, chlorin p6 trimethylester (2) were formed via basic hydrolysis of internal anhydride ring for lead compound 3 and following immediately methylation with CH2N2. The intermediate 2 reacted with 33% HBr, following nucleophilic substitution with various alkoxyl alcohol to get six title compounds (1). All title compounds were subjected to photodynamic antitumor activity screening for melanoma B16-F10 cell in vitro. Results All title compounds showed much higher phototoxicity against melanoma B16-F10 cells than talaporfin and verteporfin. Their structures were confirmed by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, ESI-MS and ESI-HRMS spectra. Conclusion Chlorin p6 ether compounds were promising candidate photosensitizers for PDT applications due to theirs high dark toxicity/phototoxicity ratio and excellent phototoxicity, which were worthy of further research and development.