ABSTRACT
The photosensitive caged compounds facilitate the spatiotemporal dynamic analysis of numerous chemicals, including bioactive molecules, gases, and inorganic species in living cells. The photosensitivity of caged compounds cannot be discussed with the value of t50 if the photolysis reactions are conducted under different reaction conditions including the solvents, wavelength, temperature and instruments. A major challenge in the field is the development of the photosensitivity increasing strategy without any decrease of other functionalities, including hydrophilicity and hydrolytic stability. Rubi-caged compounds such as Rubi-Glu and Rubi-GABA have proven to be useful for the spatiotemporal dynamic analysis in the neuroscience, albeit with the practical problems including the decrease of photosensitivity by the storage at high concentrations. Caged compounds are today widely recognized as valuable photochemical tools for the dynamic analysis of various chemicals, including gases, bioloactive molecules and inorganic species in living cells.
