Photo-controlled or photo-regulated molecules, especially biologically active and operating in physiological conditions, are in steady demand. Herein, furocoumaric and furocoumarinic acids being (Z/E)-isomers relative to each other were obtained in two stages starting from psoralen: the alkaline solvolysis of psoralen led to furocoumaric acid, which was further Z → E photoisomerized (365 nm) to furocoumarinic acid. The kinetics of Z → E photoisomerization was monitored by HPLC and UV-vis spectrophotometry. Photophysical characteristics in the aqueous phase for both acids, as well as the reversibility of (Z/E) photoisomerization process, were also assessed. Furocoumarinic acid was found to be visibly fluorescent at pH 2.0–12.0, with the maxima of fluorescence emission spectra being pH-dependent. The reverse E → Z photoisomerization predicted by quantum chemistry calculations as energetically favorable for the monoanionic form of furocoumarinic acid was proved in the experiment while being complicated by pyrone ring closure back to psoralen in acidic and neutral conditions. The preparative synthesis of furocoumarinic acid outlined in this work is particularly valuable in view of a wide range of pharmacological effects previously predicted for this compound.

Photooxidized psoralen solutions possess a variety of biological effects, which implementation mechanism may presumably involve hydroperoxides. Here, the hydroperoxide content in photooxidized psoralen solutions was assessed using photometric FOX assay (from Ferrous Oxidation + Xylenol Orange). FOX reagent with 10× content of Xylenol Orange, modified for quantitative analysis of up to 50 μM of hydroperoxides in aqueous phase was used in experiments. During photooxidation of 0.1 mM psoralen in phosphate buffer solution, hydroperoxide production increases with dose of UVA irradiation (~2.5 μM eq. of H2O2 for dose of 252 kJ/m2 and ~11 μM eq. of H2O2 for dose of 1512 kJ/m2) and reaches ~16.5 μM eq. of H2O2 at the highest dose investigated (3024 kJ/m2). A comparison of kinetics of psoralen photolysis and hydroperoxide generation allows us to suggest that generation of hydroperoxide results from the secondary photochemical processes involving psoralen photoproducts, presumably from photoinduced autooxidation of aldehydic photoproducts of psoralen.