Photooxidation of acyclovir with thermally generated triplet excited ketones. A comparison with type I and II photosensitizers.

The antiviral drug acyclovir (Ac, 1) was treated with triplet excited ketones, which have been generated in thermal decomposition of 3-(hydroxymethyl)-3,4,4-trimethyl-1,2-dioxetane (HTMD), in the dark. Three major oxidation products were detected by means of spectroscopic measurements. The products were (2-hydroxyethoxy) methyl spiroiminodihydantoin (2), (2-hydroxyethoxy) methyl (amino)-2-imino-1,2-dihydroimidazole-5-one (3), and 2,2-diamino-4-[(2-hydroxyethoxy) methyl) amino)-5-[2H]-oxazolone (4). Equal amounts of type I and type II photooxidation products were found, as could be established by comparison with predominant type I (riboflavin) and type II (rose bengal) photosensitizers. The concentration and time profiles for the HTMD-induced oxidation of Ac were also determined. The participation of singlet oxygen in HTMD-induced oxidation was confirmed by the substantial D2O effect in the formation of spiroiminodihydantoin (2).