Bophy-Based Aggregation-Induced-Emission Nanoparticle Photosensitizers For Photodynamic Therapy

Photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer have been widely investigated over the past decades. However, the notorious aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect limits their further biological applications. In this work, we have designed and reported a photosensitizer BOPHY-2TPA_ The formed photosensitizer BOPHY-2TPA was a donor- acceptor-donor (D-A-D) structure with the BOPHY as an acceptor core and two triphenylamine (TPAs) as the electron donor units. The BOPHY2TPA exhibited a large Stokes shift and excellent photoinduced O-1(2) generation capabilities. Besides, the twisted structure of TPAs endowed the BOPHY-2TPA with intrinsic AIE properties, which effectively avoided the ACQ effect. Because of these prominent features, the BOPHY-2TPA aggregates encapsulated with biocompatible Pluronic P123 in aqueous solution showed high PDT antitumor efficiency.