Professor Andriy Mokhir, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Lehrstuhl für Organische Chemie II, Erlangen, Germany

Singlet oxygen – responsive bioconjugates for control of biochemical processes and detection of nucleic acids in vitro and in live cells

Singlet oxygen (¹O₂) is a reactive molecule, which can be photogenerated from triplet oxygen in the presence of photosensitizers. In water lifetime of¹O₂ is only 3.5 µs, which limits its sphere of action to several hundred nanometers. Therefore, the effect of this reagent is well localized after its generation that allows for many interesting biological applications. In particular, the group of Mokhir develops substrates/bioconjugates, which can release active biomolecules or fluorophores upon their reaction with ¹O₂. These substrates/bioconjugates are applied to control biochemical processes (e.g. RNA interference, RNAi) and to detect biomolecules (e.g. rRNA and mRNAs) in live cells [1-4]. These topics will be discussed during the presentation of A. Mokhir. 

References:
[1] Pieper, H.; Chercheja, S.; Eigler, S.; Halbig, C.; Filipovic, M. R.; Mokhir, A. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed 2016, 55(1), 405-407.
[2] Meyer, A.; Mokhir, A. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., (2014), 53(47), 12840-12843.
[3] Dutta, S.; Fülöp, A.; Mokhir, A., Bioconjugate Chemistry, (2013), 24(9), 1533-1542.
[4] Arian, D.; Kovbasyuk, L.; Mokhir, A., J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2011), 133(11), 3972-3980.

Host: Professor Kurt V. Gothelf, iNANO & Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University