Shapeshifting photoswitchable azobenzene compounds and their biological applications

The photoisomerisation of azobenzenes between trans and cis results in well-defined changes in geometry and a considerable change of polarity. Thus, incorporating an azobenezene into a bioactive compound provides an opportunity to control biological activity, with ideally one configuration being active and the other inactive. This can allow the role of a specific biomolecule to be probed in its native environment by controlling activity both spatially and temporally using light. Incorporating such a photoswitchable moiety into the structure of a known GRK2 inhibitor can generate photoswitchable inhibitors, which can be used to reversibly regulate the activity of GRK2, and hence GPRCs.