Interactions of porphyrins with DNA: A review focusing recent advances in chemical modifications on porphyrins as artificial nucleases*

The advance of porphyrins as artificial nucleases along the years have developed a class of compounds having potential therapeutic applications. Being an extrovert of chemistry, a variety of chemical modifications have been done on porphyrin macrocycle in order to improve the spectroscopic properties and to adapt as artificial receptors that can recognize molecules. The last twenty years has witnessed broad research in the arena of porphyrin- DNA interactions and their evolution from simple to more complex entities. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in the porphyrin-based structural modifications, with a specific emphasis on various effects of porphyrin on DNA cleavage potency. We particularly detailed the nuclease activity of cationic and anionic porphyrins, porphyrin dimers and conjugates as well as heme proteins till the third generation porphyrins as artificial nucleases.

Automated summary

The advancement of porphyrins as artificial nucleases has shown potential therapeutic applications. Through chemical modifications of the porphyrin macrocycle, improvements have been made to enhance spectroscopic properties and adapt them as artificial receptors for molecule recognition. Research in the past two decades has focused on porphyrin-DNA interactions, evolving from simple to more complex entities. Specific emphasis has been placed on the effects of porphyrins on DNA cleavage potency.