Abstract
In recent years the applications of photolabile compounds, or compounds that unmask a functional group upon absorption of light, have become more diverse. Since such compounds can provide an effective means of orthogonal protection, they have been used to facilitate the synthesis of complex, polyfunctional organic molecules.1-3These materials also have been used to “cage” compounds by protection of an essential functional group, so that a chemical reaction may be initiated by a pulse of light. In this manner, mixing difficulties can be circumvented in kinetic measurements.4,5Applications of this method include the photolysis of caged ATP for studies of muscle fiber contraction, where diffusion of ATP into the muscle fiber is slow;6 of caged fluorescent probes that only emit light after photolysis;7 and even of caged enzymes by incorporating photolabile groups on essential side chain