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Updated: Aug 4, 2025
Photodynamic Therapy with Blended Conducting Polymer/Fullerene Nanoparticle Photosensitizers
Published on: October 28, 2015
Supramolecular photosensitizers using extended macrocyclic hosts for photodynamic therapy with distinct cellular
Xiuli Zheng1, Sheng-Nan Lei1, Zekun Gao1
1Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100190 China wmliu@mail.ipc.ac.cn wangpf@mail.ipc.ac.cn hcong@mail.ipc.ac.cn.
Abstract:
The photosensitizers (PSs) for photodynamic therapy (PDT) mostly possess conjugated skeletons that are over-sized and poorly water-soluble to be encapsulated by conventional macrocyclic receptors. Herein, we report that two fluorescent hydrophilic cyclophanes, AnBox·4Cl and ExAnBox·4Cl, can effectively bind hypocrellin B (HB), a pharmaceutically active natural PS for PDT, with binding constants of the 107 level in aqueous solutions. The two macrocycles feature extended electron-deficient cavities and can be facilely synthesized through photo-induced ring expansions. The corresponding supramolecular PSs (HB⊂AnBox4+ and HB⊂ExAnBox4+) exhibit desirable stability, biocompatibility, and cellular delivery, as well as excellent PDT efficiency against cancer cells. In addition, living cell imaging results indicate that HB⊂AnBox4+ and HB⊂ExAnBox4+ have different delivery effects at the cellular level.
