Subphthalocyanines: addressing water-solubility, nano-encapsulation, and activation for optical imaging of B16 melanoma cells†
Abstract
Water-soluble disulfonato-subphthalocyanines (SubPcs) or hydrophobic nano-encapsulated SubPcs are efficient probes for the fluorescence imaging of cells. 20 nm large liposomes (TEM and DLS) incorporated about 13% SubPc. Moreover, some of these fluorophores were found to be pH activatable.