TY  - BOOK
AU  - Pundlik, Raul Kusaji	
AU  - Mugesh, G.
TI  - Turning an Antioxidant into a Prooxidant : : Light-induced Mitochondrial Apoptosis in Mammalian Cells by an Ergothioneine-based Neutral Small Molecule 
U1  - 616.01816 
PY  - 2025///
CY  - Bangalore
PB  - Indian Institute of Science
KW  - Mitochondria targeting	
KW  - Mitochondria	
KW  - Antioxidant
KW  - Photoredox	
KW  - Phototoxicity	
KW  - Triplet state	
KW  - Chemical Biology	
N1  - Includes references; PhD ; 2025 ; Inorganic and Physical Chemistry (IPC)
N2  - Mitochondria-targeted compounds gained significant interest due to their applications in fundamental research, diagnostics, and therapeutics. In this work, we present a detailed investigation of the ergothioneine-based mitochondria-targeted neutral molecule, which is an antioxidant in the dark and turns prooxidant in light inside mammalian cells. This molecule was designed using a fragment-based approach for simultaneous mitochondrial imaging and targeted antioxidant activity. However, it forms a charge-separated state within 10 picoseconds under visible light, leading to triplet-state formation upon charge recombination. Mitochondrial biomolecules first reduce this redox-active triplet state to its one-electron reduced form, which reduces molecular oxygen via one-electron transfer to form superoxide radicals selectively inside mitochondria. This leads to mitochondrial lipid peroxidation, increased mitochondrial membrane permeability transition pore formation, mitochondrial depolarization, and eventually, apoptotic cell death
UR  - https://etd.iisc.ac.in/handle/2005/6981
ER  -