ISSN:
0570-0833
Keywords:
Conformation analysis
;
Photophysics
;
Bile pigments
;
Bilirubin
;
Biliverdin
;
Tetrapyrroles
;
Photochemistry
;
Chemistry
;
General Chemistry
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
Bilirubin and biliverdin dimethyl esters (BRE and BVE, respectively) and related linear tetrapyrroles have been studied using a combination of photochemical and spectroscopic techniques, the latter including absorption, fluorescence fluorescence excitation, medium-induced circular dichroism, and proton magnetic resonance. Both types of tetrapyrroles form mixtures of different topological isomers in very dilute solutions. In the case of the bilirubins the heterogeneity of the solutions is caused by two coexisting conformers with different orientations of the A/B and C/D pyrromethenone moieties with repect to each other. The spectral properties of one conformer resemble the isolated parent pyrromethenone, whereas those of the other result from electronic coupling of the two subchromophores presumably held in a “ridge tile” -like orientation. C—C rotations at the C-5 and C-15 bridges substantially compete in both components with the photochemical channels (E→Z isomerization and lumirubin formation) for the radiationless deactivation of the excited singlet state. The more rigid “ridge tile” component additionally undergoes hydrogen bond-mediated deactivation, and it photoisomerizes more efficiently. The situation is markedly more complex with the biliverdins. In order to obtain a more detailed insight into the mechanisms of the radiationless excited-state processes, time-resolved optoacoustic spectroscopy and ultrafast absorption (pump-probe) and fluorescence detection (single-photon-timing) techniques were used to supplement the stationary methods. The solution mixtures are composed of a (family of) helically coiled all-Z, all-syn species, and of species differing from the former by stretched arrangements of the rings B and C around the central C-10 bridge (E-anti, E-syn, and Z-anti). Two excited singlet states with picosecond lifetimes are attributed to either one or two coiled ground-state forms, and two remarkably long-lived nanosecond excited states arise each from a stretched ground state. The radiationless deactivation of the shorter-lived of the picosecond states is brought about by ultrafast intramolecular proton transfer between the B/C nitrogen atoms, in addition to the C—C rotational modes operative in both. Z→E photoisomerization is also an appreciable deactivation channel of excited biliverdin dimethyl ester. It is confined to the central C-10 double bond and selectively affords a stretched isomer (10E-anti), which thermally reforms the coiled starting meterial at room temperature via a sequence of tautomerization and C—C rotation. Heating or ultrasonic treatment can reverse this sequence and drive it farther to populate another stretched isomer (10E-syn) which is thermally stable at room temperature. This stretched form aggregates (presumably to dimers) already at concentrations at which the coiled species still appears to be fully monomeric.
Additional Material:
14 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.198306561
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