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Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Design, Synthesis, and Photochemical Properties of Clickable Caged Compounds
Published on: October 15, 2019
[8-[Bis(carboxymethyl)aminomethyl]-6-bromo-7-hydroxycoumarin-4-yl]methyl moieties as photoremovable protecting groups
Volker Hagen1, Funda Kilic, Janina Schaal
1Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP), Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany. hagen@fmp-berlin.de
Abstract:
We introduce a variant of coumarin-based photoactivatable protecting groups and use it exemplarily for caging of a carboxylic acid, an amine, a phenol, and a carbonyl compound. The caged compounds are efficiently photolyzed at long-wavelength UV/vis irradiation. Compared to the corresponding (6-bromo-7-hydroxycoumarin-4-yl)methyl (Bhc) derivatives, the novel coumarin-type caged compounds are distinguished by (i) dramatically increased solubilities in aqueous buffers, (ii) lower pK(a) values of the C7 hydroxyl of the coumarin chromophore, thus permitting efficient photorelease at lower pH, and (iii) higher photolysis quantum yields in the case of photoprotected carbonyl compounds. The primary step of the photocleavages occurs with rate constants of about 10(9) s(-1).
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