The photobleaching of disulfonated aluminium phthalocyanine in microbial systems

Abstract

Front-face illumination spectroscopic techniques were used to study photobleaching of disulfonated aluminium phthalocyanine (AlPcS₂) in the bacteria and yeast cells Escherichia coli, Porphyromonas gingivalis (Gram-negative bacteria), Streptococcus mutans (a Gram-positive bacterium), and the yeast Candida albicans. The photobleaching of AlPcS₂ with the microbes studied is complex, involving reactive species generated by type I and type II processes with the rate dependent on the relative contributions of the different photobleaching mechanisms. The average rate of photobleaching of the AlPcS₂ monomer in the presence of both E. coli and C. albicans increases as the fluence of the illumination source decreases. The effects of oxygen and sensitiser concentration on the rate of AlPcS₂ photobleaching in these systems are also investigated.