Unstability of neocarzinostatin-chromophore

The unstability of neocarzinostatin (NCS), apo-NCS and NCS-chromophore (NCS-chr) has been investigated by using an extra-weak chemiluminescence (CL) analyzer. A significantly high emission intensity (10,840 counts/10 seconds) was detected from NCS under dark conditions at 20 degrees C, while no significant emission was observed in other antitumor antibiotics, such as, mitomycin C and pepleomycin. This high emission intensity of NCS was due to NCS-chr I (epoxide form) but not apo-NCS. The functional group generating the high extra-weak CL of NCS-chr I is probably the epoxide in the molecule, since the emission intensity of NCS-chr I (epoxide form) is much higher than that of NCS-chr II (hydrochloride adduct form). The extra-weak CL emission of NCS decreased under a nitrogen atmosphere and it was greatly enhanced under an oxygen atmosphere. The spectral analysis of NCS showed emission peaks around 460 and 570 nm. These observations strongly suggest that one of the emission species of NCS-chr may be due to singlet oxygen.