19. Changing Electron Donating Groups to Shift Maximum Absorption of Caged Compounds

Abstract

Caged compounds are organic compounds with the ability to temporarily deactivate biologically active molecules until those molecules are released by the light of a certain wavelength. We have studied how changing different peripheral groups around a coumarin scaffold affects the maximum absorption wavelength. By being able to select the wavelength at which these compounds are uncaged, we can choose when these compounds will be released even in the presence of other caged molecules. By controlling the wavelengths these molecules uncage, neuroscientists have used pairs of molecules with opposite effects to produce signals to essentially turn on and off neuronal signaling.