A PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF NOVEL PORPHYRIN DERIVATIVES AND THEIR USE AS PDT AGENTS AND FLUORESCENCE PROBES

The present invention provides novel porphyrin derivatives represented by the general formula 1 and/or pharmaceutically acceptable derivatives thereof as NIR sensitizers for photodynamic therapeutic and diagnostic, biological and industrial applications. These porphyrin derivatives possess absorption (400-700 nm) and emission (600-750 nm) in the regions where biological chromophores do not absorb and hence are ideal candidates for application as NIR PDT agents and fluorescence sensors for medicinal applications in biology. The substituents like hydroxyl and glycolic units on these dyes render them amphiphilicity thereby improving their solubility in the aqueous media and cellular uptake and localization. These dyes show no toxicity in the dark and are highly selective towards tumor cells and stain nucleus very rapidly. Accordingly, these porphyrin derivatives are extremely useful as NIR PDT fluorescence sensors in photodynamic therapeutic and diagnostic, biological and industrial applications.