PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Roßmann, Kilian
AU  - Gonzalez-Hernandez, Alberto J.
AU  - Bhuyan, Rahul
AU  - Börjesson, Karl
AU  - Levitz, Joshua
AU  - Broichhagen, Johannes
TI  - Deuteration provides a general strategy to enhance azobenzene-based photopharmacology
AID  - 10.1101/2023.11.09.566420
DP  - 2023 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2023.11.09.566420
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/11/09/2023.11.09.566420.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/11/09/2023.11.09.566420.full
AB  - Herein, we present deuterated azobenzene photoswitches as a general means of enhancing photopharmacological molecules. Deuteration can improve azobenzene performance in terms of light sensitivity, photoswitch efficiency, and photoswitch kinetics with minimal alteration to the underlying structure of the photopharmacological ligand. We report synthesized deuterated azobenzene-based ligands for the optimized optical control of ion channel and G protein-coupled receptor function in live cells, setting the stage for the straightforward, widespread adoption of this approach.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.