Synthesis, Self-Assembling Properties and Incorporation of Carbohydrate-Substituted Porphyrins into Cell Membrane Models

Abstract

Photodynamic therapy, in which a photosensitizer accumulates in tumour tissue and then produces singlet oxygen when irradiated with visible light, requires sensitizers which are efficiently incorporated into tumour cells. Amphiphilic porphyrinic compounds could fit the bill; new carbohydrate-substituted porphyrins (figure) have been synthesized and their self-aggregation properties and binding constants with liposomes investigated.