2. Academic Validation
  3. A caged nicotine with nanosecond range kinetics and visible light sensitivity

A caged nicotine with nanosecond range kinetics and visible light sensitivity

  • J Inorg Biochem. 2010 Dec;104(12):1248-51. doi: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2010.08.003.
Oscar Filevich 1,  Marcelo Salierno,  Roberto Etchenique
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Analítica y Química Física, INQUIMAE, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria Pabellón 2 Piso 3, C1428EHA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
PMID: 20825994 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2010.08.003
Abstract

We report the synthesis, characterization and applications of a ruthenium-bipyridine based caged nicotine. The complex [Ru(bpy)(2)(nic)(2)](2+) (where bpy = 2,2' bipyridine and nic = nicotine (3-[(2S)-1-methylpyrrolidin-2-yl] pyridine)) releases nicotine with a quantum yield ϕ = 0.23 upon irradiation with biologically harmless, blue (473 nm) or green (532 nm) LIGHT. The photolysis reaction is clean and very fast, with a time constant of 17 ns. The synthesis is simple and the obtained compound is characterized by NMR, UV-Vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. We find that this compound is active in biological systems, being able to elicit action potentials in leech neurons.

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