A fluorinated ruthenium porphyrin as a potential photodynamic therapy agent: synthesis, characterization, DNA binding, and melanoma cell studies.

When the new porphyrin 5,10-(4-pyridyl)-15,20-(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin is reacted with 2 equiv of Ru(bipy)(2)Cl(2) (where bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine) formation of the target ruthenated porphyrin is achieved with 40% yield. Strong electronic transitions are observed in the visible region of the spectrum associated with the porphyrin Soret and four Q-bands. A shoulder at slightly higher energy than the Soret band is attributed to the Ru(dpi) to bipy(pi*) metal to ligand charge transfer (MLCT) band.