Solution Environment Effects on the Photo-Physical Behavior of Daunorubicin and Mitoxantrone: Anthraquinone-based Drugs

Anthraquinone-based drugs are the focus of the pharmaceutical industry today due to their wide range of therapeutic applications and investigation of the electronic structure and intermediate resonance forms of these materials in different solvent environments can help to understand their photo-physical behavior in practical and functional environments. Considering the importance of this issue, the drugs Daunorubicin and Mitoxantrone were dissolved in different solvent environments with varying polarities, and their absorption and fluorescence spectra were investigated. The results of the spectroscopic data were evaluated with solvent polarity parameters, and the dipole moment of these drugs was obtained. Finally, by summarizing all the results, the resonance structures of Daunorubicin and Mitoxantrone were presented in ground- and excited-state. Both substances show high polarity in the excited state as well as an excited state intra-molecular proton transfer mechanism. The findings can pave the way for scientists and pharmacists to evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency of drugs and improve their function.