NOX-100

Nitric oxide (NO) is a signaling mol. that mediates vasodilation, neurotransmission, and immune response.Due to its instability in biol. environments, NO-releasing small-mol. compounds have been developed for biol. experiments and also as therapeutic reagents for vascular diseases.Although photocontrollable NO releasers are very useful chem. tools because of their precise operability in response to light irradiation, their biol. applications have been limited, mainly because they require UV light irradiation or contain metal ions with the potential to cause cytotoxicity.In order to overcome these problems, our group has developed visible-light-responsive NO releasers based on photoreodox reaction.These compounds are composed of two moieties, an NO-releasing moiety and a light-harvesting antenna moiety.After photoirradiation, photoinduced electron transfer from the NO releasing moiety to the antenna takes place, followed by NO release.Based on this system, we developed a blue-light-controllable NO releaser and a yellowish-green-light-controllable one, which are applicable for cellular and ex vivo experimentsThis account focuses on recent developments in photoredox-driven NO releasers and their applications for spatiotemporally controlled NO release in cells and ex vivo.

Contamination with pathogenic and infectious viruses severely threatens human health and animal husbandry. Current methods for disinfection have different disadvantages, such as inconvenience and contamination of disinfection by-products (e.g., chlorine disinfection). In this study, atmospheric surface plasma in argon mixed with air and plasma-activated water was found to efficiently inactivate bacteriophages, and plasma-activated water still had strong antiviral activity after prolonged storage. Furthermore, it was shown that bacteriophage inactivation was associated with damage to nucleic acids and proteins by singlet oxygen. An understanding of the biological effects of plasma-based treatment is useful to inform the development of plasma into a novel disinfecting strategy with convenience and no by-product.