The photophysical properties of several 2-substituted, 10-alkylated phenothiazines were measured in several solvents to investigate the relevance of the molecular structure in their photophysics and consequent photochemistry. Because the interaction modes of each drug and its corresponding species strongly depend on the variety of microenvironments in the cells, the properties of each one of these species must also be determined separately to understand fully the mechanism of action of the drug and the mechanism of its side effects. Information on the chemical interactions of the different species at the cellular level can be inferred from the corresponding electronic properties. In this work, we present absorption, steady-state, and time-resolved emission, laser flash photolysis, and quantum theoretical results for the ground state, the first excited singlet and triplet states, and the cation radical of promazine hydrochloride (PZ), 2-chlorpromazine hydrochloride (CPZ), 2-trifluoromethylpromazine hydrochloride (TFMPZ), 2-trifluoromethylperazine dihydrochloride (TFMP), 2-thiomethylpromazine (TMPZ), and thioridazine hydrochloride (TR). The corresponding nonalkylated phenothiazines are included as references. The photophysical properties of this drug family depend more on the solvent and the 2-substituents than on the dialkylaminopropyl chain. The largest effect was found for the triplet state of the 2-halogenated derivatives in phosphate buffer (PBS). Both the quantum yield and the lifetime of this intermediate drop to less than 5% of the corresponding value in organic solvents. The triplet state of halogenated promazines is efficiently quenched by a proton-transfer mechanism, and the rate of this quenching correlates very well with the phototoxicity of the promazine drugs. Therefore, we postulate that this species is directly related to the phototoxic side effect of neuroleptic drugs.

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Photophysical and electrochemical properties of protriptyline hydrochloride (PTL-HCl) and its free base were measured in different solvents. Ground-state properties remain unchanged as a function of solvent or protonation state. The fluorescence quantum yield and lifetime, on the other hand, are solvent-dependent. Fluorescence lifetimes results were obtained from monoexponential decay fittings. Characterization of the 266 nm nanosecond laser flash photolysis species reveals the presence of the triplet-triplet transient intermediate at low-intensity conditions. At high laser intensities, two new transient intermediates were observed, which were assigned to the solvated electron and the radical cation. These species are formed through a biphotonic route, as shown with photonicity studies. The relatively high oxidation potentials measured for PTL-HCl and its free base corroborate the biphotonic process required for these species. These electrochemical studies also show that PTL-HCl is easier to oxidize than its free base. Singlet oxygen is established as one of the transient species following triplet-state formation. The PTL-HCl triplet state is probably involved in the dimer formation and other reactive intermediates, and therefore, it might be directly associated with the in vivo phototoxic effects observed for this drug.

The mechanisms that trigger the phototoxic response to 2-chlorophenothiazine derivatives are still unknown. To better understand the relationship between the molecular structure of halogenated phenothiazines and their phototoxic activity, their photophysics and photochemistry were studied in several alcohols. The photodestruction quantum yields were determined under anaerobic conditions using monochromatic light (313 nm). Absorption-and emission-spectroscopy, 1 H-and 13 C-NMR and GC-MS were used to characterize the photoproducts and reference compounds. An electron transfer mechanism had been previously proposed by Bunce et al. (J. Med. Chem. 22,[202][203][204] to explain the large difference between the photodestruction quantum yield of 2-chlorpromazine (u = 0.46) and 2-chlorphenothiazine (u = 0.20). According to these authors, the alkylamino chain transfers an electron to the phenothiazine moiety. Our results demonstrate that this mechanism is incorrect, because the photodestruction quantum yields of all chlorinated derivatives of this study are the same under the same conditions of solvent and irradiation wavelength. The quantum yield has no dependence on the 10-substituent, but it depends on the solvent. The percentage of each photoproduct, on the other hand, strongly depends on that substituent, but not very much on the solvent. Finally, it is demonstrated that the phototoxic effect of chlorinated phenothiazines is not related to the photodechlorination, although both processes share the same transient.

Chlorprothixene (CPTX, Taractan) is a low potency antipsychotic mainly used for the treatment of psychotic disorders (e.g. schizophrenia) and acute mania occurring as part of bipolar disorders. As in the case of other numerous drugs used in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, CPTX presents geometric isomerism. Therefore, in vitro irradiation induces a rapid Z/E isomerization, which can affect its pharmacokinetic properties. This photoisomerization is not dependent on the oxygen concentration. The Z/E quantum yields determined for zCPTX in acetonitrile are 0.22 and 0.21 in anaerobic and aerobic environments, respectively. In the presence of water, both isomers decompose to produce 2-chlorothioxanthone (CTX) after prolonged irradiation. This process strongly depends on the water concentration and the irradiation time, i.e. it is autocatalyzed by the CTX through a triplet-energy transfer mechanism. The protonation state of the terminal amino group, on the other hand, has no effect on the isomerization process, but inhibits the formation of CTX. These results indicate that the phototoxicity of zCPTX is somehow affected by the formation of CTX.

Imipramine (IPA) and its derivatives are used widely for the treatment of depression and other mental disorders. Although there are more than 20 FDA-approved antidepressant drugs, the search continues for better compounds with fewer deleterious side effects and higher efficacy. Over the past decade, several classes of antipsychotic drugs have been developed, which-in spite of their structural diversity-share an ability to modulate neurotransmission and to produce undesirable side effects. Phototoxicity is one of the most important side effects noted in treatment with tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), but its mechanism has not yet been elucidated. To develop new knowledge regarding the relationship between the structure and the photophysics of these TCAs, we measured the photophysical properties of IPA, desimipramine (DIPA), and clomipramine (CIPA) in different solvents. The electronic configurations for the ground and the first excited singlet states were calculated using the AM1/RHF/CI and the AM1/RHF/HE semiempirical quantum theoretical methods, respectively. The ground-state properties are solvent-independent, while the emission maxima are red-shifted with increasing solvent polarity/polarizability. However, the fluorescence quantum yield is relatively low in all of the tested solvents (phif<0.02). The primary transient intermediates produced by 266 nm high-intensity laser photolysis are the solvated electron and the corresponding radical cation, with a negligible contribution of triplet-triplet absorption. The properties determined for the primary transients generated with a 266 nm laser flash are consistent with the photodamaging effects generated through a limited radical mechanism.

Phenothiazines derivatives are versatile compounds that are used in many fields, depending on the type and position of the substitution on the parent molecule. The photochemical, photophysical and electrochemical properties of several phenothiazine derivatives have been previously reported in detail. However, no reports have been presented for 2-aminophenothiazine (APH), a candidate that provides for the further chemical modification and the introduction of specific substituents. In this work, the photophysical and electrochemical properties of APH were measured in acetonitrile. The APH ground state absorption and fluorescence spectrum (φf < 0.01) are similar to the corresponding that of PH parent molecule. A mono exponential decay fluorescence lifetime of 0.65 ns was determined for APH in acetonitrile. Characterization of the 355 nm nanosecond laser flash photolysis transient species reveals the presence of the triplet-triplet transient intermediate with a high intersystem crossing quantum yield (φT = 0.72 ± 0.07), indicating that the APH main excited state deactivation channel is intersystem crossing. The oxidation potential of APH is lower than phenothiazine parent molecule ((0.38 V vs 0.69 V vs Ag/AgCl(sat)). Altogether, these results show that APH has photochemical and photophysical properties similar to the phenothiazine parent molecule, but with the possibility of providing an amino functionality at 2-position for further chemical modification.

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