THE STUDY OF PYRENEDIONE AS A PHOTOREDOX CATALYST AND A FLUOROMETRIC PROBE FOR VISUAL DETECTION AND QUANTIFICATION OF TRYPTOPHAN

Quinones are redox-active organic molecules that play significant roles in a wide range of chemical and biochemical redox processes. Pyrenediones (PYD) are poly aromatic quinones with extended conjugated structures which enable them to absorb light in the visible range. Their exceptionally strong electron-accepting and hydrogen abstracting abilities in excited states make them promising photoredox catalysts, which however, has hardly been investigated yet. This thesis is focused on the development of PYD as an environmently friendly organophotocatalyst for oxygenation and alkylation reactions. Moreover, amination of PYD followed by intramolecular cyclization via C-H activation is disclosed. Finally, the selective oxidation of tryptophan and cysteine, among other amino acids by 1,8-PYD is presented. An easy and sensitive method for the visual detection and quantification of tryptophan in soy sauce has been developed using 1,8-PYD as a turn-on fluorescent probe.

Author dc:creator

• ZHANG YUANNIAN

• photocatalyst, pyrenedione, photoredox, fluorescent probe, tryptophan, soy sauces