Synthesis of hydrophilic chlorophyll derivatives containing terpene and galactose fragments and evaluation of the terpene fragment effect on the photocytotoxicity of target compounds

A series of hydrophilic derivatives of chlorophyll a containing a digalactose fragment and fragments of mono-, di-, and triterpenoids attached to the porphyrin macrocycle through the amide bond were synthesized. The dark and photocytotoxicity of new terpene-containing chlorin-galactose conjugates were assessed in comparison with the chlorin-galactose derivative without the terpene substituent. It was found that the incorporation of the diterpenoid isosteviol increased the photoinduced cytotoxicity against the HeLa cells at a concentration of the target compound of 1 µmol L⁻¹. A significant decrease in the survival of the HeLa, A549, and HT-29 cells occurred under the photoinduced exposure to all the studied compounds at a concentration of 10 µmol L⁻¹.