Photosensitizing properties of octacarboxy metallophthalocyanines in aqueous medium and their interaction with bovine serum albumin

Photosensitizing properties of aluminium, silicon, zinc and germanium octacarboxy phthalocyanines ((OH)AIOCPc, (OH)(2)SiOCPc, ZnOCPc and (OH)(2)GeOCPc) were studied in aqueous medium and in the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Triplet quantum yields increased with increasing atomic number of the central metals of the metallophthalocyanine. The efficiency of singlet oxygen generation via energy transfer from the excited triplet state of the octacarboxy metallophthalocyanines (MOCPcs) to ground state oxygen increased markedly in the presence of BSA. The triplet state lifetimes of the MCCPc complexes in the presence of BSA were found to be longer than in the absence of BSA, ranging from 110 to 580 mu s. These complexes bind readily to BSA. Stern-Volmer quenching constant K-sv as well as the binding constant k(b) values were calculated. The probable mechanism of quenching of BSA fluorescence by the MOCPc complexes is by static quenching. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.