Berkelium (Bk) has been predicted to be the only transplutonium element able to exhibit both +III and +IV oxidation states in solution, but evidence of a stable oxidized Bk chelate has so far remained elusive. Here we describe the stabilization of the heaviest 4+ ion of the periodic table, under mild aqueous conditions, using a siderophore derivative. The resulting Bk(IV) complex exhibits luminescence via sensitization through an intramolecular antenna effect. This neutral Bk(IV) coordination compound is not sequestered by the protein siderocalin-a mammalian metal transporter-in contrast to the negatively charged species obtained with neighbouring trivalent actinides americium, curium and californium (Cf). The corresponding Cf(III)-ligand-protein ternary adduct was characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis. Combined with theoretical predictions, these data add significant insight to the field of transplutonium chemistry, and may lead to innovative Bk separation and purification processes.

Synthetic radionuclides, such as the transuranic actinides plutonium, americium, and curium, present severe health threats as contaminants, and understanding the scope of the biochemical interactions involved in actinide transport is instrumental in managing human contamination. Here we show that siderocalin, a mammalian siderophore-binding protein from the lipocalin family, specifically binds lanthanide and actinide complexes through molecular recognition of the ligands chelating the metal ions. Using crystallography, we structurally characterized the resulting siderocalin-transuranic actinide complexes, providing unprecedented insights into the biological coordination of heavy radioelements. In controlled in vitro assays, we found that intracellular plutonium uptake can occur through siderocalin-mediated endocytosis. We also demonstrated that siderocalin can act as a synergistic antenna to sensitize the luminescence of trivalent lanthanide and actinide ions in ternary protein-ligand complexes, dramatically increasing the brightness and efficiency of intramolecular energy transfer processes that give rise to metal luminescence. Our results identify siderocalin as a potential player in the biological trafficking of f elements, but through a secondary ligandbased metal sequestration mechanism. Beyond elucidating contamination pathways, this work is a starting point for the design of twostage biomimetic platforms for photoluminescence, separation, and transport applications.actinide transport | siderocalin | protein crystallography | luminescence spectroscopy | antenna effect E vents of the last decade have heightened public concern that radionuclides may be released to the environment either deliberately or accidentally (1, 2), with such events potentially leading to the internal contamination of a large number of individuals. The actinides are all highly radioactive, as are some lanthanide fission products, and many of their isotopes decay by alpha particle emission (3). Once internalized, they are distributed to various tissues with patterns that depend on the chemical and physical form of the contaminant in question (4). The densely ionizing alpha particles emitted by actinides when retained can cause tissue damage and induce cancer in target tissues in a dosedependent manner (5). Sufficiently high radionuclide doses may also cause manifestations of acute radiation syndrome. The tissue distribution of an actinide will therefore determine the pattern of injury observed and its radiological and chemical toxicities may lead to serious adverse health effects (6-8). Although they are known to rapidly circulate and deposit into major organs such as bone, liver, or kidney after contamination (6,(8)(9)(10), the specific molecular mechanisms associated with mammalian uptake of these toxic heavy elements remain largely unexplored. Proposed mammalian actinide acquisition and transport mechanisms have typically focused on proteins that use conserved motifs to directly bind the essential elements iron or calcium (6, 8, 10-...

The photophysical properties, solution thermodynamics, and in vivo complex stabilities of Cm(III) complexes formed with multidentate hydroxypyridinonate ligands, 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) and 5-LIO(Me-3,2-HOPO), are reported. Both chelators were investigated for their ability to act as antenna chromophores for Cm(III), leading to highly sensitized luminescence emission of the metal upon complexation, with long lifetimes (383 and 196 μs for 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) and 5-LIO(Me-3,2-HOPO), respectively) and remarkable quantum yields (45 % and 16 %, respectively) in aqueous solution. The bright emission peaks were used to probe the electronic structure of the 5f complexes and gain insight into ligand field effects; they were also exploited to determine the high (and proton-independent) stabilities of the corresponding Cm(III) complexes (log β110 = 21.8(4) for 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) and log β120 = 24.5(5) for 5-LIO(Me-3,2-HOPO)). The in vivo complex stability for both ligands was assessed by using (248) Cm as a tracer in a rodent model, which provided a direct comparison with the in vitro thermodynamic results and demonstrated the great potential of 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) as a therapeutic Cm(III) decontamination agent.

The synthesis of boron difluoride complexes of as eries of curcuminoidd erivatives containing various donor end groups is described. Time-dependent (TD)-DFT calculations confirm the charge-transfer character of the second lowest-energy transition band and ascribe the lowest energy band to a" cyanine-like" transition. Photophysical studies reveal that tuning the donors trengtho ft he end groups allows coveringab road spectral range, from the visible to the NIR region, of the UV-visible absorptiona nd fluorescence spectra.T wo-photon-excited fluorescence and Z-scan techniques prove that an increase in the donor strengtho r in the rigidity of the backboner esultsi naconsiderable increase in the two-photon cross section, reaching 5000 GM, with predominant two-photona bsorption from the S 0 -S 2 charge-transfer transition. Direct comparisons with the hemicurcuminoid derivatives show that the two-photon active band for the curcuminoid derivatives has the same intramolecular charge-transfer character and therefore arises from ad ipolar structure. Overall,t his structure-relationship study allowst he optimization of the two-photon brightness (i.e., 400-900GM) with one dye that emits in the NIR region of the spectrum.I na ddition, these dyes demonstrate high intracellularu ptakee fficiencyi nC os7 cells with emission in the visible region, which is further improved by using porous silican anoparticles as dye vehicles for the imaging of two mammalian carcinomac ells type based on NIR fluorescence emission.

Targeted α therapy holds tremendous potential as a cancer treatment: it offers the possibility of delivering a highly cytotoxic dose to targeted cells while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. The metallic α-generating radioisotopes Ac andTh are promising radionuclides for therapeutic use, provided adequate chelation and targeting. Here we demonstrate a new chelating platform composed of a multidentate high-affinity oxygen-donating ligand 3,4,3-LI(CAM) bound to the mammalian protein siderocalin. Respective stability constants log β = 29.65 ± 0.65, 57.26 ± 0.20, and 47.71 ± 0.08, determined for the Eu (a lanthanide surrogate for Ac), Zr, and Th complexes of 3,4,3-LI(CAM) through spectrophotometric titrations, reveal this ligand to be one of the most powerful chelators for both trivalent and tetravalent metal ions at physiological pH. The resulting metal-ligand complexes are also recognized with extremely high affinity by the siderophore-binding protein siderocalin, with dissociation constants below 40 nM and tight electrostatic interactions, as evidenced by X-ray structures of the protein:ligand:metal adducts with Zr and Th. Finally, differences in biodistribution profiles between free and siderocalin-bound Pu-3,4,3-LI(CAM) complexes confirm in vivo stability of the protein construct. The siderocalin:3,4,3-LI(CAM) assembly can therefore serve as a "lock" to consolidate binding to the therapeutic Ac andTh isotopes or to the positron emission tomography emitter Zr, independent of metal valence state.