Background
Protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) was shown to strongly activate in vitro the soluble guanylate cyclase enzyme (sGC), which makes it an interesting drug candidate for treatment of hypertension [1, 2]. In order to overcome the problem of PPIX poor bioavailability (especially in the case of oral administration), we decided to exploit the specific uptake pathway of vitamin B12, which was frequently used for delivering biologically active substances from the digestive system into the body cells. To this end, we embarked on the synthesis of a series of hybrid molecules, containing PPIX and vitamin B12 moieties, linked via chains of different length and chemical character [3].
Methods and results
Our synthetic approach is based on the synthesis of linking molecules containing a primary -NH2 group and -N3 or alkyne group at the other end. Amine functionality allows us to connect these linkers to vitamin B12, and to PPIX, finally, the union of the two parts is possible using Cu-catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition (the “click reaction”) [4].
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the European Regional Found within the TEAM program, grant No. TEAM/2009-3/4.
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Gryko, D., Martin, E. New vitamin B12 derivatives activates sGC. BMC Pharmacol 11 (Suppl 1), P32 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2210-11-S1-P32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2210-11-S1-P32