Vanda Vaz Serra,¹ Fátima Camões,² Sandra I. Vieira,² Maria A. F. Faustino,¹ João P. C. Tomé,¹ Diana C. G. A. Pinto,¹ Maria G. P. M. S. Neves,¹ Augusto C. Tomé,¹ Artur M. S. Silva,¹ Edgar F. da Cruz e Silva^2* and José A. S. Cavaleiro^1,*

¹ Department of Chemistry, QOPNA, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
² Centre for Cell Biology, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

* Corresponding author: E-mail: jcavaleiro@ua.pt; edgar@ua.pt

Abstract
Studies on the synthesis, structural characterization and biological evaluation of novel chalcone-porphyrin derivatives are described. The photodynamic effect, intracellular localization and cellular uptake of the new conjugates were evaluated in vitro in COS-7 cells. All derivatives exhibited high stability and yielded good fluorescence under light irradiation. None of the chalcone-porphyrins proved to be cytotoxic and/or phototoxic for COS-7 cells.

Keywords: porphyrins, chalcones, medicinal applications, fluorophores, fluorine