ScienceDaily reported on a recent discovery about the structure of melanin that could bring scientists closer to developing an "ultra-protective" sunscreen derived from melanin. According to the source, researchers from McGill's Department of Chemistry, in collaboration with Ohio State University and the University of Girona, published findings on a component of melanin that turns light into heat, protecting the body against sun damage.
See related: How Sunscreen Base Formulas Affect SPF and Mechanical Properties
The paper, featured in Nature Chemistry, explores indole-5,6-quinone (IQ), which reportedly has been implicated as a biosynthetic intermediate and subunit of eumelanin pigments but its instability has prevented its isolation and characterization. The researchers used a steric shielding approach to stabilize IQ and showed the "blocked" derivative exhibited "eumelanin’s characteristic ultrafast, nonradiative decay and its ability to absorb light from the UV to the near-infrared," per the paper abstract.
The new compound was also reportedly redox-active and a source of paramagnetism, paralleling eumelanin’s electronic properties, which include persistent radicals. Blocked IQs are said to be precise and tailorable molecules that can offer a bottom-up understanding of properties in eumelanin and have the potential to advance the design of melanin-inspired materials.
See the article abstract for more details and to access the publication.
