Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Stefan H. Bossmann / The photochromic spirodihydroindolizine/betaine (DHI/B) system has been reinvestigated applying picosecond, microsecond, stationary absorption measurements, and NMR-kinetics. The first surprise was that the electronic structure of the betaines is quite different than commonly assumed. The photochemical ring-opening of DHIs to betaines is a conrotatory 1,5 electrocyclic reaction, as picosecond absorption spectroscopy confirms. The (disrotatory) thermal ring-closing occurs from the cisoid betaine. The lifetime of the transoid betaine is 60 s at 300 K, whereas the lifetime of the cisoid isomer is of the order of 250 microseconds. According to these results, the electrocyclic back reaction of the betaines to the DHI is NOT rate determining, as previously thought, but the cisoid-transoid-isomerization of the betaine. Although the presence of a second nitrogen atom increases the photostability of the spirodihydroindolizine-pyridazine/betaine-system remarkably, the photochemical reaction mechanism appears to be exactly the same for spirodihydroindolizine-pyridazine/betaine-system. A nondestructive photoswitch or an information recording systems has been explored using styryl-quinolyldihydroindolizines. Both isomers DHI and betaine are fluorescent. When the blue betaine is stabilized in a thin polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) matrix, it is stable for several hours even in room temperature and very stable at 77K. Although irradiation of visible light = 532 nm allows the photo-induced reaction of the Betaine back to the DHI, a nondestructive read-out can be performed at λ = 645 nm upon excitation with λ = 580 nm. Image recording (write) and read-out, as well as information storage (at 77K) have been demonstrated. Charged and maleimide-functionalized DHI/B systems have beed synthesized for use as photochemical gates of the mycobacterial channel porin MspA. Positively charged and maleimide functionalized DHI groups that were attached to the DHI/B-system permit the binding of the photoswitch to selective positions in the channel proteins due to the presence of a cysteine moiety. An inexpensive new method for the large scale synthesis of coelenterazine is developed. A modified Negishi coupling reaction is used to make pyrazine intermediates from aminopyrazine as an economical starting material. This method permits the use of up to 1g coelenterazine per kg body weight and day, which turns the renilla transfected stem cells into powerful light sources.

Au cours de cette thèse, deux sujets distincts ont été étudiés : d’une part la synthèse d’analogues de la coelentérazine, substrat de différentes luciférases, pour une application en imagerie in vivo, et d’autre part la synthèse d’analogues du (-)-EGCG, inhibiteur de la kinase Dyrk1a, impliquée notamment dans les troubles cognitifs rencontrés dans la trisomie 21.La problématique du premier sujet consistait à obtenir des analogues de la coelentérazine conservant leur activité sur deux luciférases, la luciférase Renilla et l’aequorine, tout en induisant un déplacement vers le rouge de la bioluminescence produite par ces enzymes. L’aequorine, sensible au calcium, représentait la cible biologique principale du projet.Sept analogues dont six originaux ont été obtenues par des méthodes de synthèse classiques, et leurs activités ont pu être testées sur les deux luciférases choisies, avec des résultats probants : malgré des émissions de lumière moins intenses que celles obtenues avec la coelentérazine native, plusieurs molécules ont entrainé un déplacement vers le rouge de la longueur d’onde d’émission de lumière par bioluminescence allant jusqu’à 27 nm pour l’aequorine et plus de 120 nm pour la luciférase Renilla.Le second sujet, de chimie médicinale classique, a principalement consisté à la synthèse d’analogues du gallate d’épigallocatéchine (EGCG) au squelette simplifié, et au sein desquels le cycle pyranique caractéristique des catéchines a été remplacé par un carbocycle. Plusieurs molécules ont pu être synthétisées, dont deux présentant le motif hexaphénol. Leur activité inhibitrice de Dyrk1a a pu être testée in vitro et l’une d’entre elle s’est déjà révélée plus active que l’EGCG. / During this thesis, two distinct projects were studied: on the one hand, the synthesis of coelenterazine analogs, substrate of several luciferases, in the purpose of using them for in vivo imaging, and on the other, the synthesis of (-)-EGCG analogs, inhibitor of the Dyrk1a kinase, which interests us for the role it plays in the mental retardation existing in the Down Syndrome disease.The problematic of the first project consisted in obtaining coelenterazine analogs that would not only maintain their activity on two luciferases, the Renilla luciferase and aequorine, but they should also induce a red-shift of the bioluminescence produced by these enzymes. Because of its sensitivity to calcium, aequorine was the main biologic target of this project.Seven analogs, of which six had an original structure, were synthesized through usual synthetic methodologies and their activities on both aequorine and Renilla luciferase were tested in vitro, with interesting results: even if the intensities of light emission were weaker than those obtained with native coelenterazine, several molecules produced a red-shift of the emission wavelength of bioluminescence, up to 27nm for aequorine and more than 120nm for the Renilla luciferase. The second project, of classical medicinal chemistry, mainly consisted in the synthesis of epigallocatechin gallate analogs (EGCG) with a simplified backbone and in which the pyranic ring typical of catechins was replaced by a carbocycle. Several molecules were synthesized, two of them possessing the hexaphenol motif. Their inhibiting activity of Dyrk1a was tested in vitro and one already showed a better activity than natural EGCG.