Regulatory effect of hydroquinone–tetraethylene glycol conjugates on zebrafish pigmentation

[Display omitted] We synthesized two hydroquinone–tetraethylene glycol conjugates (HQ–TGs) and investigated their logP, photophysical stability, and redox chemical stability. HQ–TGs are a little more hydrophilic than hydroquinone (HQ) and show an enhanced photophysical and redox chemical stability compared with HQ. In addition we studied the effect of HQ–TGs on cell viability and on zebrafish pigmentation. MTT assay in HF-16 cells showed HQ–TGs are less cytotoxic than HQ. The phenotype-based image analysis of zebrafish larvae suggests that HQ–TGs suppress the pigmentation of zebrafish in a dose-dependent manner. The comparative experiments on stability, cytotoxicity, and zebrafish pigmentation between HQ and HQ–TGs suggest that mono tetraethylene glycol-functionalization of HQ is an alternative solution to overcome the adverse effect of HQ.