Phenacyl ester derivatives bearing heterocycles as models for photocleavable linkers: synthesis and photolysis studies

The synthesis of several phenacyl ester derivatives linked to oxygen and nitrogen heterocycles, benzoquinolone and (benzo)coumarins, was carried out in an effort to obtain systems that could be applied as photocleavable (bi)functional linkers for solid phase peptide synthesis. The heterocycles were attached to a spacer, with different lengths, followed by coupling to 2-bromo-1-phenylpropan-1-one, acting as a model for the solid support. Photolysis studies of the resulting phenacyl ester derivatives were carried out by irradiation in a photochemical reactor at different wavelengths (300, 350 and 419 nm), in methanol/HEPES buffer solution (80:20).