Laboratory of Photoactive compounds of the Research Institute of FOH SFU

Creation of solar cells (DSSC, Gretzel cells) based on photochromic sensitizers. The interest in such devices is explained by their ability to regulate the efficiency of energy conversion and transmission of sunlight depending on environmental conditions, such as changes in the solar spectrum at different times of the day.

Photopharmacology is a new developing branch of biomedicine in which bioactivity is controlled by introducing photo-switch molecules into the structure of bioactive drugs. Photoreceptor-modified bioactive substance (photopharmacological agent) Under the influence of light irradiation, it changes its properties, for example, shape, lipophilicity, dipole moment, etc. Since the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of a drug are directly related to its molecular structure, the two photoisomeric forms have different bioactivity. An external mechanism for controlling the biological activity of drugs allows to cause a pharmacological reaction when interacting with a strictly defined molecular target in the body (a specific enzyme, receptor, ion channels, etc.), which ensures a high degree of selectivity (selectivity) of the action of a bioactive drug. We use spiropyrans, one of the most promising and widely studied classes of organic photochromes, as well as their self-protonated merocyanine derivatives exhibiting the properties of photoacids, as photo–switch molecules for the implementation of light control over the bioactivity of drugs using activating radiation.

Creation of compounds with photomodulated fluorescence in the near infrared range. Due to the structural similarity of merocyanine isomers with cyanine dyes, the compounds obtained are of interest as potential fluorescent probes for bioimaging.