An absorption-emission system for the evaluation of DNA photocleaving agents

吸收和发射光谱一起允许基态和激发态分子性质的表征。一旦已知，这些性质就构成了分子的光学特征，并且这种光学特征的变化作为分子环境的函数提供了关于电子和分子相互作用性质的丰富信息。购买吸收-发射光谱系统，以表征用于光动力治疗（PDT）的新型DNA光切割剂的基态和激发态特性，用于治疗某些癌症以及年龄相关性黄斑变性。DNA光切割剂是一种人工核酸酶，在适当波长的光激活下，在DNA主链中引入单链或双链断裂。新药物的设计必须解决当前的限制：(i)对分子氧的要求，（ii）缺乏双链切割能力，以及（iii）光疗窗口外（700-900 nm）的最大吸收。所提出的吸收-发射系统需要充分表征新的DNA光切割剂的光物理性质，并研究它们与DNA的相互作用。这些知识对于概述新的DNA光切割剂的机制方面和评估它们作为PDT候选者的潜力至关重要。这种吸收-发射系统也需要另外四个共同申请者。其中两位是合作者，他们希望确定他们设计的分子所表现出的细胞毒性是否部分源于与DNA主链的直接相互作用。有不相关研究项目的共同申请者将使用该仪器进行环境痕量金属的荧光监测以及光笼的吸收和荧光表征。由于阿卡迪亚大学化学系缺乏用于研究的专用吸收和荧光光谱仪，因此进一步需要购置拟议的吸收-发射系统。

Absorption and emission spectroscopy together permit the characterization of both ground and excited state molecular properties.  Once known, these properties constitute the optical signature of a molecule, and changes in this optical signature as a function of molecular environment provide a wealth of information regarding the nature of both electronic and molecular interactions.  Purchase of an absorption-emission spectroscopy system is proposed to  characterize the ground and excited state properties of new DNA photocleaving agents for use in photodynamic therapy (PDT), a treatment for certain cancers as well as age-related macular degeneration.  DNA photocleaving agents are artificial nucleases that introduce single- or double-strand breaks in the DNA backbone upon photoactivation with an appropriate wavelength of light.  The design of new agents must address current limitations:  (i) requirement for molecular oxygen to function, (ii) lack of double-strand cleaving capacity, and (iii) maximal absorption outside the phototherapeutic window (700-900 nm).  The proposed absorption-emission system is required to characterize fully the photophysical properties of new DNA photocleaving agents and to investigate their interactions with DNA.  This knowledge is essential to outlining the mechanistic aspects of new DNA photocleaving agents and evaluating their potential as candidates for PDT in the context of those limitations outlined previously.      This absorption-emission system is also required by four additional co-applicants.  Two of these are collaborators that wish to determine whether the cytotoxicity demonstrated by their designed molecules stems, in part, from direct interaction with the DNA backbone.  Co-applicants with unrelated research projects will use the instrument for fluorescence monitoring of environmental trace metals and absorption and fluorescence characterization of photocages.  The lack of dedicated absorption and fluorescence spectrometers for research in the Chemistry Department at Acadia University further necessitates the acquisition of the proposed absorption-emission system.