Bioluminescence imaging techniques have vastly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of research in the past several decades with applications in cell specific identification, as well as mapping cellular functions and processes. Analysis of luciferase and luciferin reactions in vivo in tumor cells could prove revolutionary for cancer research. The requirement for this process is a small heterocyclic light emitting luciferin, which undergoes oxidation by the enzyme luciferase in the presence of oxygen and ATP to produce oxyluciferin, AMP, and light. Our research focused on synthesizing D-luciferin and examining the protein docking structures and free energy values associated with this molecule to provide a foundation for determining viable derivatives. By synthesizing novel derivatives of D-luciferin, fluorescence of varying wavelength can be produced and monitored simultaneously in the same system. Utilizing computational programs, luciferin derivatives were compared by HOMO-LUMO gap and synthetic viability. Progress on this work including computational results and synthesis of potential luciferin derivatives will be discussed.<br/>

Progress toward the synthesis and evaluation of luciferin derivatives for bioluminescene imaging

249th National Meeting (2015)

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