Controlling Biological Activity with Light: Diarylethene-Containing Cyclic Peptidomimetics
Oleg Babii, Sergii Afonin, Marina Berditsch, Sabine Reisser, Pavel K. Mykhailiuk, Vladimir S. Kubyshkin, Thomas Steinbrecher, Anne S. Ulrich and Igor V. Komarov
Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2014 53 (13), 3392–3395

Enamine scientists in collaboration with research at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, Germany) published a study on antibiotics activated by light. It deals with synthesis of analogues of the antimicrobial peptide gramicidin S which conformations can be switched by light. This property was rendered by incorporation in its structure of an amino acid designed based on a photoisomerizable diarylethene scaffold. The biological activity of the resulting peptidomimetics can be reversibly controlled by ultraviolet/visible light.

Success of Enamine’s innovative product pipeline and service portfolio is based on the commitment of the company to the scientific research. Enamine caries out and supports research projects within the company as well as off-site in collaboration with many academic centers in Ukraine and abroad. About 30 scientific papers were published by Enamine scientists in renowned scientific journals in 2013.