Characterization of Locally Excited and Charge-Transfer States of the Anticancer Drug Lapatinib by Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Computational Studies

[EN] Lapatinib (LAP) is an anticancer drug, which is metabolized to theN- and O-dealkylated products (N-LAP andO-LAP, respectively). In view of the photosensitizing potential of related drugs, a complete experimental and theoretical study has been performed on LAP,N-LAP andO-LAP, both in solution and upon complexation with human serum albumin (HSA). In organic solvents, coplanar locally excited (LE) emissive states are generated; they rapidly evolve towards twisted intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) states. By contrast, within HSA only LE states are detected. Accordingly, femtosecond transient absorption reveals a very fast switching (ca. 2 ps) from LE (lambda(max)=550 nm) to ICT states (…