New “all-in-one” theranostic systems, combining a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent with a biphotonic photodynamic therapy photosensitiser generating cytotoxic singlet oxygen, were successfully developed and characterized.

New “all-in-one” theranostic systems, combining a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent with a biphotonic photodynamic therapy (2P-PDT) photosensitiser generating cytotoxic singlet oxygen, were envisaged and synthesised. They are based on azamacrocycles, regiospecifically functionalised by two-photon PDT π-conjugated dibromobenzene-picolinate photosensitisers and acetate, able to complex gadolinium(III) and allow an MRI signal. Our approach was to use two different macrocyclic platforms, tacn and pyclen, for modulating simultaneously the structures, properties and solubility of the complexes. Photophysical properties of the ligands and their gadolinium(III) complexes were fully investigated. The Gd3+-pyclen derivative showed the best water solubility and the greatest value of singlet oxygen generation of the series with φΔ = 0.53 enabling in vitro studies. The biological PDT activity under mono and biphotonic excitation was evaluated in human breast cancer cells (MCF-7). While a very low dark toxicity was observed, an almost total cell death was induced after only 3 successive irradiations of 1.57 sec. Finally, its relaxivity was measured in a DMSO/H2O solvents mixture with r1p = 11.21 and r2p = 24.60 mM-1s -1 at 3.0 T and T1- and T2-weighted phantom MR images were obtained highlighting a first generation of “all-in-one” PDT/MRI theranostic agents.

Cationic lanthanide complexes are generally able to spontaneously internalize into living cells. Following our previous works based on diMe-cyclen framework, a second generation of cationic water-soluble lanthanide complexes based on a constrained cross-bridged cyclam macrocycle functionalized with donor-p-conjugated picolinate antennas has been prepared with europium(III) and ytterbium(III). Their spectroscopic properties were thoroughly investigated in various solvents and rationalized with the help of DFT calculations. A significant improvement is observed in the case of the Eu3+ complex, while the Yb3+ analogous conserve an excellent brightness in aqueous solvent. Two-photon (2P) microscopy imaging experiments on living T24 human cancer cells confirmed the spontaneous internalization of the probes and images with good signal-to-noise have been obtained in the classical NIR-to-visible configuration with Eu3+ luminescent bioprobe and in the NIR-to-NIR with the Yb3+ one.