Premium
An Iridium (III) Complex Bearing a Donor–Acceptor–Donor Type Ligand for NIR‐Triggered Dual Phototherapy
Author(s) -
Zhao Jian,
Yan Kaiwen,
Xu Gang,
Liu Xue,
Zhao Qiang,
Xu Chenjie,
Gou Shaohua
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.202008325
Subject(s) - iridium , photothermal therapy , photochemistry , polyethylene glycol , materials science , photosensitizer , peg ratio , ligand (biochemistry) , acceptor , quantum yield , photodynamic therapy , porphyrin , pegylation , reactive oxygen species , combinatorial chemistry , chemistry , fluorescence , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , catalysis , biochemistry , receptor , physics , finance , condensed matter physics , quantum mechanics , economics
Iridium(III) complexes are an important group of photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy (PDT). This work constructs a donor–acceptor–donor structure‐based iridium(III) complex (IrDAD) with high reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation efficiency, negligible dark toxicity, and synergistic PDT and photothermal therapy (PTT) effect under near‐infrared (NIR) stimulation. This complex self‐assembles into metallosupramolecular aggregates with a unique aggregation‐induced PDT behavior. Compared with conventional iridium(III) photosensitizers, IrDAD not only achieves NIR light deep tissue penetration but also shows highly efficient ROS and heat generation with ROS quantum yield of 14.6% and photothermal conversion efficiency of 27.5%. After conjugation with polyethylene glycol (PEG), IrDAD is formulated to a nanoparticulate system (IrDAD‐NPs) with good solubility. In cancer phototherapy, IrDAD‐NPs preferentially accumulate in tumor area and display a significant tumor inhibition in vivo, with 96% reduction in tumor volume, and even tumor elimination.