Scientists from the St. Petersburg Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPb FRC RAS) and St. Petersburg State University (SPbGU) have found an effective way to synthesize molecules for targeted therapy of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.

The resulting substances are able to change their biological activity under the influence of laser radiation.

This was reported to RT in the press service of the Ministry of Education and Science.

The results of the study were supported by a grant from the Russian Scientific Society and published in the Russian Journal of General Chemistry.

Scientists have found that under the influence of a laser with certain characteristics, the molecules of the compounds obtained (they belong to the group of anhydrides) change their spatial arrangement - they turn into isomers of the original substance.

Isomers have the same chemical formula, but they have different biological activities.

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“Earlier, we have already obtained several compounds that changed their biological activity under the action of a laser, but then the structural changes were insignificant.

In the case of anhydride, for the first time, we clearly showed that a laser can switch the entire molecule as a whole, ”said Anastasia Egorova, senior researcher at the Laboratory for Natural Ecological and Chemical Research of the St. Petersburg Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, to RT.

According to Egorova, the obtained compounds are non-toxic and at the same time are able to block the activity of enzymes that affect the development of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.

“In the future, we hope to obtain an anhydride-based therapeutic drug, which, using laser radiation, can selectively “turn on” only in a certain area of ​​the patient’s body,” the author of the development added.

To achieve such results, scientists have modified the method of synthesis of molecules from the group of anhydrides.

Chemists applied a new approach at one of the stages of synthesis - in the process of decomposition of intermediate reaction products.

Previously, specialists achieved this by blowing sulfur dioxide gas through a liquid, but the new method is based on keeping the reaction temperature in the region of 20–23 °C.

The final stage of the synthesis was carried out by scientists in an inert environment - its role was played by argon gas.

“We have developed a new controlled approach for the synthesis of compounds from the anhydride group.

Although they have been known since the middle of the 20th century, only in recent years have we found out that their biological activity can be controlled with a laser,” explained Anastasia Egorova.

In the future, scientists plan to study the compounds obtained in detail in order to assess their safety for the human body.

It should be noted that today experts pay great attention to the so-called targeted or targeted drug delivery.

We are talking about methods that allow you to specifically activate the action of the drug only in the diseased organ in order to reduce the negative side effects of the treatment for the whole organism.