Developing a new water-soluble porphyrin as a potential photodynamic cancer therapy agent

Photodynamic cancer therapy (PDT) is a type of treatment involving the use of light in conjunction with a photosensitive agent- a chemical or series of chemicals designed for activation when exposed to light. This research project investigated the synthesis and identification of the novel photosensitive agent, H2TPP-Pro-OH. To create the water-soluble porphyrin, (S)-(+)-prolinol was added to the tetra-carboxyl porphyrin, H2TPPC, to form the final H2TPP-Pro-OH product. This compound was then purified using syringe filtration and column chromatography, and subsequently characterized using infrared (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and UV-vis spectroscopies. Finally, the utility of the material as a PDT agent was determined by examining the cytotoxicity of the H2TPP-Pro-OH product was determined using MTT assay on MDA-MB-231 triple negative breast cancer cells comparing dark and light exposure.