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Highly Efficient Far‐Red/NIR‐Absorbing Neutral Ir(III) Complex Micelles for Potent Photodynamic/Photothermal Therapy
Author(s) -
Liu Bingqing,
Jiao Jian,
Xu Wan,
Zhang Miya,
Cui Peng,
Guo Zhengqing,
Deng Yibin,
Chen Huabing,
Sun Wenfang
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.202100795
Subject(s) - photodynamic therapy , photothermal therapy , bodipy , singlet oxygen , photochemistry , micelle , materials science , reactive oxygen species , photosensitizer , far red , biophysics , fluorescence , chemistry , oxygen , nanotechnology , red light , optics , organic chemistry , biology , biochemistry , physics , botany , aqueous solution
A critical issue in photodynamic therapy (PDT) is inadequate reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in tumors, causing inevitable survival of tumor cells that usually results in tumor recurrence and metastasis. Existing photosensitizers frequently suffer from relatively low light‐to‐ROS conversion efficiency with far‐red/near‐infrared (NIR) light excitation due to low‐lying excited states that lead to rapid non‐radiative decays. Here, a neutral Ir(III) complex bearing distyryl boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY‐Ir) is reported to efficiently produce both ROS and hyperthermia upon far‐red light activation for potentiating in vivo tumor suppression through micellization of BODIPY‐Ir to form “Micelle‐Ir”. BODIPY‐Ir absorbs strongly at 550–750 nm with a band maximum at 685 nm, and possesses a long‐lived triplet excited state with sufficient non‐radiative decays. Upon micellization, BODIPY‐Ir forms J ‐type aggregates within Micelle‐Ir, which boosts both singlet oxygen generation and the photothermal effect through the high molar extinction coefficient and amplification of light‐to‐ROS/heat conversion, causing severe cell apoptosis. Bifunctional Micelle‐Ir that accumulates in tumors completely destroys orthotopic 4T1 breast tumors via synergistic PDT/photothermal therapy (PTT) damage under light irradiation, and enables remarkable suppression of metastatic nodules in the lungs, together without significant dark cytotoxicity. The present study offers an emerging approach to develop far‐red/NIR photosensitizers toward potent cancer therapy.