Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 8, 2025

Whole-cell Patch-clamp Recordings for Electrophysiological Determination of Ion Selectivity in Channelrhodopsins
Published on: May 22, 2017
Selective Modification for Red-Shifted Excitability: A Small Change in Structure, a Huge Change in Photochemistry
Yvonne Becker1, Sina Roth2, Maximilian Scheurer3
1Institute for Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Str. 7, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Abstract:
We developed three bathochromic, green-light activatable, photolabile protecting groups based on a nitrodibenzofuran (NDBF) core with D-π-A push-pull structures. Variation of donor substituents (D) at the favored ring position enabled us to observe their impact on the photolysis quantum yields. Comparing our new azetidinyl-NDBF (Az-NDBF) photolabile protecting group with our earlier published DMA-NDBF, we obtained insight into its excitation-specific photochemistry. While the "two-photon-only" cage DMA-NDBF was inert against one-photon excitation (1PE) in the visible spectral range, we were able to efficiently release glutamic acid from azetidinyl-NDBF with irradiation at 420 and 530 nm. Thus, a minimal change (a cyclization adding only one carbon atom) resulted in a drastically changed photochemical behavior, which enables photolysis in the green part of the spectrum.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways
Photochemical Electrocyclic Reactions: Stereochemistry
Selection Rules: Photochemical Activation
Photoreceptors and Plant Responses to Light
Channel Rhodopsins
Rhodopsins belong to the family of cell surface proteins called G-protein coupled receptors,...
The Photochemical Reaction Center
The Z-Scheme of Electron Transport in Photosynthesis

