Synthesis and photochemical behavior of coumarin-caged cholesterol

The syntheses of three coumarin-caged cholesterols are reported that contain the 6-diethylaminocoumarin (DEACM), 6-bromo-7-hydroxycoumarin (BHC) and 6-bromo-7-methoxycoumarin (BMCM) photocleavable groups. Upon photolysis, the best caged derivative was found to be BHC-cholesterol whose quantum yield was determined to be 0.032 at 350 nm.