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Cyanine-Functionalized 2,2'-Bipyridine Compounds for Photocatalytic Cancer Therapy
Zilin Zhu1, Li Wei1, Ashish Kumar Yadav2
1School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Recently, interest has been given to developing photocatalytic anticancer drugs. This area of research is dominated by metal complexes. Here, we report the potential of lysosome/mitochondria targeting cyanine appended bipyridine compounds as the organic photocatalytic anticancer agents. The organocatalyst (bpyPCN) not only exhibits light-induced NADH oxidation but also generates intracellular ROS to demonstrate anticancer activity. This is the first example of organic compound induced catalytic NADH photo-oxidation in an aqueous solution and in cancer cells.
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