Influence of polymer nature on porphyrincatalyzed photooxidation processes

The photocatalytic activity of some porphyrin photosensitizers (PPSs) in the model reaction of tryptophan photooxidation was shown to decrease in the presence of the biodegradable polymers chitosan and polylactide. Also, the degree of decrease in substrate photooxidation depended on the nature of the polymer. The constant decreased by factors of 4 and 1.1 in the presence of chitosan and polylactide, respectively. This influence of the polymers on the photocatalytic activity of PPSs may have been related to the interaction of macromolecular fragments with the porphyrins. However, preliminary solubilization of PPSs by Pluronic® F-127 enabled to be increased 4 times (in chitosan systems) or 1.3 times (in polylactide systems).