Browsing by Author "Sveen, Christopher Edward"

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    Development of a new fluorescent tool box based on tocopherol
    (2012) Sveen, Christopher Edward; Heyne, Belinda; Zaremberg, Vanina
    Research into Vitamin E and its in-vivo function has recently exploded, focusing mostly on the biologically relevant isomer, a-tocopherol ( a-T). Although a-T is well known for its radical scavenger role in membranes, new roles of a-T not related to its antioxidant activity have been proposed. Much of this research has been slowed down due to the lack of readily accessible tools for the study of this Vitamin in vivo. Thus, our goal was to develop a toolbox of fluorescent tocopherol derivatives, either redox-active or silent, to be used for live studies. The fluorophore of choice was nitrobenzoxadiazole (NBD). After the successful synthesis and characterization of derivatives, the efficacy of several promising probes was tested in-vivo. Structural features relevant for intracellular localization were identified. In addition, the poorly understood photochemistry of NBD was investigated using laser flash photolysis on the simple probe NBD-hexane, revealing a novel phosphorescence process not previously described.