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Updated: Apr 1, 2026
The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
Highly Charged Ruthenium(II) Polypyridyl Complexes as Lysosome-Localized Photosensitizers for Two-Photon Photodynamic
Huaiyi Huang1,2, Bole Yu1, Pingyu Zhang1
1MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275 (China).
Abstract:
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a noninvasive medical technique that has received increasing attention over the last years and been applied for the treatment of certain types of cancer. However, the currently clinically used PDT agents have several limitations, such as low water solubility, poor photostability, and limited selectivity towards cancer cells, aside from having very low two-photon cross-sections around 800 nm, which limits their potential use in TP-PDT. To tackle these drawbacks, three highly positively charged ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes were synthesized. These complexes selectively localize in the lysosomes, an ideal localization for PDT purposes. One of these complexes showed an impressive phototoxicity index upon irradiation at 800 nm in 3D HeLa multicellular tumor spheroids and thus holds great promise for applications in two-photon photodynamic therapy.
