AIE Multinuclear Ir(III) Complexes for Biocompatible Organic Nanoparticles with Highly Enhanced Photodynamic Performance

Zhang, Liping; Li, Yuanyuan; Che, Weilong; Zhu, Dongxia; Li, Guangfu; Xie, Zhigang; Song, Nan; Liu, Shi; Tang, Ben Zhong; Liu, Xingman; Su, Zhongmin; Bryce, Martin R.

doi:10.1002/advs.201802050

AIE Multinuclear Ir(III) Complexes for Biocompatible Organic Nanoparticles with Highly Enhanced Photodynamic Performance

Zhang, Liping; Li, Yuanyuan; Che, Weilong; Zhu, Dongxia; Li, Guangfu; Xie, Zhigang; Song, Nan; Liu, Shi; Tang, Ben Zhong; Liu, Xingman; Su, Zhongmin; Bryce, Martin R.

Authors

Liping Zhang

Yuanyuan Li

Weilong Che

Dongxia Zhu

Guangfu Li

Zhigang Xie

Nan Song

Shi Liu

Ben Zhong Tang

Xingman Liu

Zhongmin Su

Professor Martin Bryce m.r.bryce@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

The singlet oxygen (1O2) generation ability of a photosensitizer (PS) is pivotal for photodynamic therapy (PDT). Transition metal complexes are effective PSs, owing to their high 1O2 generation ability. However, non‐negligible cellular toxicity, poor biocompatibility, and easy aggregation in water limit their biomedical applications. In this work, a series of red‐emitting aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) Ir(III) complexes containing different numbers of Ir centers (mono‐, di‐, and trinuclear) and the corresponding nanoparticles (NPs) AIE‐NPs, are designed and synthesized. The increase of 1O2 generation ability is in line with the increasing number of Ir centers. Compared with the pure Ir(III) complexes, the corresponding NPs offer multiple advantages: (i) brighter emission; (ii) higher phosphorescence quantum yields; (iii) longer excited lifetime; (iv) higher 1O2 generation ability; (v) better biocompatibility; and (vi) superior cellular uptake. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments corroborate that AIE‐NPs with three iridium centers possess potent cytotoxicity toward cancer cells and effective inhibition of tumor growth. To the best of knowledge, this work is the first example of NPs of multinuclear AIE Ir(III) complexes as PSs for enhanced PDT. This study offers a new method to improve the efficiency of PSs for clinical cancer treatments.

Citation

Zhang, L., Li, Y., Che, W., Zhu, D., Li, G., Xie, Z., …Bryce, M. R. (2019). AIE Multinuclear Ir(III) Complexes for Biocompatible Organic Nanoparticles with Highly Enhanced Photodynamic Performance. Advanced Science, 6(5), Article 1802050. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.201802050

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Dec 12, 2018
Publication Date	Mar 6, 2019
Deposit Date	Jan 22, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Jan 22, 2019
Journal	Advanced Science
Publisher	Wiley Open Access
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	6
Issue	5
Article Number	1802050
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.201802050

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Copyright Statement
Advance online version © 2019 The Authors. Published by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.