The detailed triplet state characteristics of 2-(4-acetylphenyl)isoindolin-1-one (kINP), a N-phenylphthalimidine (PPI) derivative, have been studied in fluid solution at room temperature. The attachment of an acetyl group to the N-phenyl moiety of PPI has permitted to enhance the intersystem crossing quantum yield, generally low for such compounds. Upon 308-nm laser flash photolysis of kINP in acetonitrile, a triplet-triplet transition has been evidenced (λ max ) 440 nm). Further characterization of this transient at 440 nm gave a lifetime τ ) 11 µs, a molar absorption coefficient ) 22 000 M -1 × cm -1 , and an intersystem crossing quantum yield of 0.89. Moreover, a ππ* nature has been found for this triplet state that lies at ca. 290 kJ × mol -1 above the ground state. In addition to providing fundamental information on the triplet state properties of PPI derivatives, its importance during a photobiological process has been evidenced. kINP is the key compound involved in thymine dimers formation during the photosensitization of DNA by indoprofen, a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug.

The photophysical properties and photochemistry of indoprofen (INP) have been investigated. Absorption and emission spectroscopies in phosphate buffer, ethanol and ether show that INP photophysics is dominated by a singlet-singlet transition of pipi* character. INP fluoresces at room temperature, with a quantum yield approximately 0.04. Flash photolysis experiments together with the lack of phosphorescence at room temperature point to a very weak intersystem crossing. The photoreactivity of INP is centered on the propionic acid chain and gives rise to photoproducts similar to those obtained with other arylpropionic acids (ethyl, hydroxyethyl and acetyl derivatives). Thus, irradiation of INP in aqueous buffer results in photodecarboxylation and leads mainly to oxidative compounds whose proportions increase with increasing oxygen concentration. These data suggest a photoreactivity occurring from the excited singlet state.

The in vitro photosensitizing activity of indoprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, toward DNA has been studied by gel sequencing experiments using (32)P-end labelled synthetic oligonucleotides in phosphate buffered solution. Upon irradiation at [small lambda] > 320 nm, piperidine-sensitive lesions were induced in single- and double-stranded DNA, exclusively at the position of guanine bases. In single-stranded DNA, all G sites were modified. This pattern of photooxidative damage without isotopic effect in deuterium oxide, is characteristic of a Type I mechanism involving electron transfer from the base to the excited drug. In duplex DNA, a Type I process was also observed since selective DNA breakage occurred with high selectivity at 5[prime or minute]-G of a 5[prime or minute]-GG-3[prime or minute]sequence. When the oligonucleotide displays TT sites, an energy transfer process becomes predominant, giving rise to the formation of thymine dimers as evidenced by using T4 endonuclease V. Moreover, the methyl ester of indoprofen has been synthesized in order to study the influence of the indoprofen photochemical properties in DNA photosensitization. The poor efficiency of this compound shows that the drug itself is not directly implicated in DNA photodamage and seems to imply the involvement of indoprofen photoproducts.

Cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD) and (6-4) photoproducts are among the main UV-induced DNA lesions. Both types of damage are mostly repaired in prokaryotes by photolyase enzymes. The repair mechanism of (6-4) photolyases has still not been fully elucidated, but it is assumed that back rearrangement to the oxetane occurs prior to repair. In this work, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug derivative corresponding to the dechlorinated methyl ester of carprofen (namely methyl 2-(carbazol-2-yl)propanoate, PPMe) has been used to achieve the photosensitized cycloreversion of model oxetanes (formally resulting from photocycloaddition between benzophenone and 1,3-dimethylthymine or 2'-deoxyuridine), by employing fluorescence spectroscopy, laser flash photolysis, HPLC and NMR. Although PPMe is able to photoinduce the cycloreversion of both oxetanes, the fluorescence quenching of PPMe is faster for the 2'-deoxyribose-containing oxetane; this underlines the importance of the structure in such studies. Moreover, PPMe was shown to photoinduce the formation of thymidine cyclobutane dimers through a triplet-triplet energy transfer from a vibrationally excited state, as suggested by the enhanced PPMe triplet quenching by thymidine with increasing temperature. These results reveal a dual role of PPMe in DNA photosensitization, in that it photoinduces either damage or repair.

No abstract

We investigated the incorporation of oxidatively modified guanine residues in DNA using three DNA polymerases, Escherichia coli Kf exo+, Kf exo-, and Taq DNA polymerase. We prepared nucleoside 5'-triphosphates with modified bases (dN (ox)TP) including imidazolone associated with oxazolone (dIzTP/dZTP), dehydroguanidinohydantoin (dOGhTP), and oxaluric acid (dOxaTP). We showed that the single-nucleotide incorporation of these dN (ox)TP at the 3'-end of a primer DNA strand was possible opposite C or G for dIzTP/dZTP, opposite C for dOGhTP using the Klenow fragment, and opposite C for dOxaTP using Taq. The efficiency of these misincorporations was compared to that of the nucleoside 5'-triphosphate modified with the mutagenic guanine lesion 8-oxo-G opposite A or C as well as to that of the natural dNTPs. The reaction was found not competitive. However, the ability of Kf exo- to further copy the whole template DNA strand from the primer carrying one modified residue at the 3'-end proved to be easy and rapid. The two-step polymerization process consisting of the single-nucleotide extension followed by the full extension of a primer afforded a method for the preparation of tailored double-stranded DNA oligonucleotides carrying a single modified base at a precise site on any sequence. This very rapid method allowed the incorporation of unique residues in DNA that were not available before due to their unstable character.

The photophysical properties of indoprofen photoproducts have been examined in various solvents by absorbance and emission spectroscopies in relation with their photosensitizing properties. The photophysical properties of 2-[4-(1-hydroxy)ethylphenyl]isoindolin-1-one (HOINP) and 2-(4-ethylphenyl)isoindolin-1-one (ETINP) are typical of a singlet excited state when the ones of 2-(4-acetylphenyl)isoindolin-1-one (KINP) are based on its triplet excited state according to previous work. The effect of solvent polarity on the absorption and fluorescence properties of HOINP and ETINP has been investigated as a function of Delta f, the Lippert solvent polarity parameter. A solvatochromic effect, function of the polarity region, has been observed for both photoproducts due to a change in the dipole moment of the compound upon excitation. In low-polarity regions, the excited state dipole moment of HOINP undergoes only a moderate increase (11.5 D) as compared to the dipole moment of the ground state (4.5 D) suggesting that the fluorescence arises from the locally excited state while in high-polarity regions it is strongly increased (42.9 D), which can imply that the emission takes place from a charge transfer state. In the case of ETINP, it would seem that the emitting state is rather a charge transfer state whatever the region is (16.9 and 31.8 D for the calculated excited-state dipole moments in the low and high-polarity regions, respectively). HOINP and ETINP do not produce thymine dimers by photosensitization but induce photooxidative damage via an electron transfer mechanism.

Unwanted photoinduced responses are well-known adverse effects of most promazine drugs, including levomepromazine (LPZ, Levoprome ® or Nozinan ® ). This drug is indicated in psychiatry primarily for the treatment of schizophrenia and other schizoaffective disorders. Levomepromazine's particular sedative properties make it especially fit for use in psychiatric intensive care. Nevertheless, it is photolabile under UV-A and UV-B light in aerobic conditions resulting in the formation of its sulfoxide. The LPZ photochemistry in acetonitrile (MeCN) is completely different from that in methanol (MeOH) and phosphate buffer solutions (PBS, pH = 7.4). The major photoproduct in PBS and MeOH under aerobic conditions is levomepromazine sulfoxide (LPZSO), although the amount is considerably higher in the aqueous environment. The corresponding main photoproduct in MeCN could not be characterized. The destruction quantum yields of LPZ in PBS, MeOH and MeCN are 0.13, 0.02 and <10 À3 , respectively. It is further demonstrated that LPZSO does not form by the reaction of singlet oxygen with ground-state LPZ. This oxidation product is actually produced by the reaction of the cation radical of LPZ (LPZÁ + ) with molecular oxygen. This cation radical in turn, is produced by an electron transfer process between the 3 LPZ* and ground-state molecular oxygen.