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Researchers at Iowa State University have developed photoremovable protecting groups (often referred to as “photocages”) that photoheterolyse in response to light in the visible spectrum.

Photoremovable protecting groups are chemical agents that provide control over the release of any number of reagents in a variety of environments. From bioagents (including active chemical compounds, nucleotides and other compounds) to ions, acids, bases, oxidants, etc., photoremovable protecting groups (PPGs, or alternately, photocages) are used to release these compounds in response to light. All commonly-used photocages respond to UV light. The use of visible light provides several distinct advantages, including depth of penetration in biological tissues, limited damage to biological tissue, researcher safety, and potential for use of multiple photocage-reagent combinations responsive to different light wavelengths in experimental design.

• Photochemical lysis responds to light absorption in the visible light range

• Can be tuned to different wavelengths of light so that multiple differently caged molecules could be released in response to different light sources

• Will work with a wide variety of biological and non-biological molecules

Laboratory reagent