Synthesis and pharmacological characterization of mitochondrial K

Mitochondria play a key role for deciding fate of cells and thus are considered an attractive target for pharmacological interventions focused on containment of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Notably, the activation of mitochondrial potassium (mitoK) channels produces a mild depolarization of mitochondrial membrane, that contributes to reduce the driving force to calcium uptake and prevents the formation of mitochondrial transition membrane pore (MPTP); these events underlie anti-ischemic cardioprotection. However, an ideal mitoK channel opener should possess the fundamental requirement to be delivered at mitochondrial level; therefore, to improve the mitochondrial delivery of a previously characterized spirocyclic benzopyrane F81, new compounds have been developed. The three original triphenylphosphonium (TPP