Syntheses of 1,2,3-triazole-BODIPYs bearing up to three carbohydrate units

Alex L. Nguyen, Louisiana State University
Kaitlin E. Griffin, Louisiana State University
Zehua Zhou, Louisiana State University
Frank R. Fronczek, Louisiana State University
Kevin M. Smith, Louisiana State University
M. Graça H. Vicente, Louisiana State University

Abstract

© 2018 The Royal Society of Chemistry and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. A series of BODIPYs bearing one (4b,c), two (6a) or three (3b) glucose units attached to the meso(8) and the boron atom positions were synthesized using a Cu(i)-catalyzed Huisgen cycloaddition reaction. The resulting 1,2,3-triazole-BODIPYs were characterized by 1H, 13C and 11B NMR, HRMS, and in the case of 4a and 4b by X-ray crystallography. Triazole-BODIPYs 3b, 4b and 6a were highly permeable in cells and non-toxic to human HEp2 cells, both in the dark and upon light irradiation (IC50 > 100 μM). The time-dependent cellular uptake increased with the increase number of glucose units.