“…Many hypocrellin derivatives have been synthesized to improve water-solubility, mainly by modification of the chemical structures. Among these, 13-sulfonated, 15 5-sulfonic acid-, 16 5,8-glycoside-, 17 5,8mercaptoacetic acid-, 18 5,8-sodium-cysteine- 19 and 5-cyclodextrin-20 substituted hypocrellins are almost completely water-soluble but lose PDT activity in vivo due to poor cellular uptake, 21 while 5-mercaptoacetic-acid-and 5-/5,8-mercaptoethanol-, 22,23 5-/5,8-cysteamine-, 24 2-amino-, 25 4,9-amino-, 26 17-amino-, 27 2-cyclohexylamino-, 28 2-butylamino-, 29 2-phenylmethylamino-, 30 2-morpholine/dimethylethylenediamine/piperazine-, 31 2-/2,17ethanolamino-, 32 2,17-peptide-, 33 2-diamino-34, 35 and 13/17-amino acid-36,37 substituted hypocrellins are PDT active but have water solubilities that are too low to enable drug solutions at clinically acceptable concentrations. In contrast, a bromine-substituted derivative has been reported for EA 38 but this did not show any improvement in solubility.…”