Molecular Engineering of Asymmetric Aza-BODIPY Dyes for High-Performance Phototherapy

Abstract

Achieving both anti-fluorescence and anti-ROS quenching effects remains a challenge for conventional small-molecule dyes.In this work, we proposed an "asymmetric hierarchical modulation" strategy for aza-BODIPY core to address the issues of aggregation-caused fluorescence quenching (ACQ-FL) and aggregation-caused ROS quenching (ACQ-ROS), enabling its highperformance phototherapy. Compound BT-4 exhibited long-wavelength absorption, good anti-fluorescence and anti-ROS quenching abilities. The tumor growth in mice model was significantly suppressed after the treatment of BT-4 plus 808 nm laser irradiation, while maintaining the minimal systematic toxicity.