Novel potentially fluorogenic compounds

摘要

Compounds of formula (I) in which R<1>,R<2>,R<3>,R<4> and R<5> are hydrogen atoms or chromogenic substituents and X is hydroxyl, OR<6> wherein R<6> is selected from the group consisting of C1 - C4 alkyl, or O<->Me<+> wherein Me<+> is a cation derived from an organic or inorganic base; these compounds do not exhibit significant fluorescence but are capable of being cleaved by phosphatidyl-inositol-specific phospholipase C, an enzyme which is indicative of bacterial activity; the umbelliferyl moity resulting from such cleavage is a strong fluorogen thus providing effective test methods for various pathogenic bacteria, such as Listeria, Staphylococcus and Clostridium species. A synthesis method is disclosed. A preferred species of the formula (I) compounds is 4-methylumbelliferyl myo-inositol-1-phosphate and the salts thereof with an organic or inorganic base.