Issue 25, 2023

Near-infrared AIEgens with high singlet-oxygen yields for mitochondria-specific imaging and antitumor photodynamic therapy

Abstract

AIE-active photosensitizers (PSs) are promising for antitumor therapy due to their advantages of aggregation-promoted photosensitizing properties and outstanding imaging ability. High singlet-oxygen (1O2) yield, near-infrared (NIR) emission, and organelle specificity are vital parameters to PSs for biomedical applications. Herein, three AIE-active PSs with D–π–A structures are rationally designed to realize efficient 1O2 generation, by reducing the electron–hole distribution overlap, enlarging the difference on the electron-cloud distribution at the HOMO and LUMO, and decreasing the ΔEST. The design principle has been expounded with the aid of time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations and the analysis of electron–hole distributions. The 1O2 quantum yields of AIE-PSs developed here can be up to 6.8 times that of the commercial photosensitizer Rose Bengal under white-light irradiation, thus among the ones with the highest 1O2 quantum yields reported so far. Moreover, the NIR AIE-PSs show mitochondria-targeting capability, low dark cytotoxicity but superb photo-cytotoxicity, and satisfactory biocompatibility. The in vivo experimental results demonstrate good antitumor efficacy for the mouse tumour model. Therefore, the present work will shed light on the development of more high-performance AIE-PSs with high PDT efficiency.

Graphical abstract: Near-infrared AIEgens with high singlet-oxygen yields for mitochondria-specific imaging and antitumor photodynamic therapy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
02 feb 2023
Accepted
06 jun 2023
First published
06 jun 2023
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2023,14, 7076-7085

Near-infrared AIEgens with high singlet-oxygen yields for mitochondria-specific imaging and antitumor photodynamic therapy

S. Zhang, W. Yang, X. Lu, X. Zhang, Z. Pan, D. Qu, D. Mei, J. Mei and H. Tian, Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 7076 DOI: 10.1039/D3SC00588G

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