Synthesis of vanadyl-hypocrellin A complex and its photodynamic properties research

Hypocrellin A is an efficient photodynamic agent against many tumor cells and viruses. However, it was found that the preparation of injectable formula for HA was highly hampered by the poor water solubility of these compounds. So, here, a new water-soluble vanadyl-hypocrellin A complex was first synthesized and the complex forming process was studied using spectral and thermal dynamics methods. The results indicated that VO(2+)-HA can stable in aqueous solutions and exhibit increased photostability, affinity and photocleavage ability toward ctDNA under anaerobic condition. Moreover, in vitro studies illustrated that VO(2+)-HA also had strong anti-cancer activity.