UC Santa Barbara

Devices consisting of polymer disks (PDs) of optically clear or translucent, medical-grade silicone loaded with a new hydrophobic, oxygen-stable, photoactivated nitric oxide-releasing moiety (photoNORM) are described. The photoNORM is the new O-nitrito chromium(III) complex trans-[Cr(PetA)(ONO)₂](BF₄) (PetA = 5,14-dimethyl-7,12-diphenyl-1,4,8,11-tetraaza-cyclotetradecane), of which the synthesis, X-ray crystal structure, and solution-phase photochemistry are described. Several different commercially available silicone polymers were tested with this photoNORM, and nitric oxide photouncaging with 451 nm light from these systems is compared. In addition, PDs were loaded with the photoNORM and neodymium-sensitized upconverting nanoparticles (Nd-UCNPs). The Nd-UCNPs absorb NIR light at ∼800 nm and activate NO release from the trans-[Cr(PetA)(ONO)₂]⁺ cation. The use of such ensembles as implants provides a potential strategy for the in vivo uncaging of NO at physiological targets triggered by tissue-transmitting NIR excitation. Also reported are the X-ray crystal structures of cis- and trans-{Cr(PetA)Cl₂]Cl.