SENSIBILISIERTE PHOTOOXYDATION DURCH METHYLENBLAU THIOPYRONIN UND PYRONIN-III. MITTEILUNG: ÜBER DEN MECHANISMUS DER PHOTOSENSIBILISIERTEN OXYDATION DES GUANOSINS DURCH THIOPYRONIN

Abstract— The thiopyronin-sensitized photooxidation of guanosine was investigated, using flash photolysis techniques. The reaction kinetics of three short-lived intermediates (the triplet state, the reduced radical, and the oxidized radical) were followed by spectroscopy. The influence of guanosine concentration on the reaction rate shows that only the oxidized radical (reaction 7) of thiopyronin is affected by guanosine. This suggests that the primary step in the photodynamic destruction of DNA is the oxidation of guanosine by the oxidized radical of thiopyronin (reaction 9). This mechanism is discussed in terms of the redox potentials of the donor and the acceptor for three different cases: (1) where the oxidation potential of the donor is more negative than that of the triplet state, the acceptor being the triplet state ( F^T ); (2) where the oxidation potential of the donor is between the potentials of the triplet state and the oxidized radical, the acceptor being the oxidized radical (F_ox); and (3) where the oxidation potential of the donor is more positive than the reduction potential of both the triplet state and the oxidized radical; in this case no electron exchange takes place. The thiopyronin-guanosine system is an example of the second case.