In this paper, we have developed a light-activated single component fluorescent organic nanoparticles for synergistic combination therapy (chemo-photodynamic therapy) utilizing the combined benefits of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) phenomena. The single-component organic nanoparticles were synthesized by coupling tetraphenylethylene (TPE) moiety with the p-hydroxy phenacyl-chlorambucil conjugate. Then, tetraphenylene-p-hydroxyphenacyl-chlorambucil (TPE-pHP-Cbl) nanoparticles were prepared by a simple reprecipitation technique. Our designed TPE-pHP-Cbl NPs exhibited the unique benefits such as (i) aggregation-induced emission enhancement, (ii) large Stoke’s shift, (iii) the photoirradiation wavelength >410 nm, (iv) the drug release occurs only in the aggregated state upon photolysis, (v) PDT activity, (vi) real-time monitoring of drug release by a noninvasive fluorescence color change approach, and (vii) PDT activity of the released photoproduct (TPE-pHP-OH), thereby resulting in the improved therapeutic efficiency. In vitro experiments show that TPE-pHP-Cbl NPs display excellent properties such as cellular imaging, synergistic combination therapy, and biocompatibility.

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In this study, the metal organic framework MOF [Zn(BDC)(DMF)] crystal was synthesized via ultrasonic irradiation and solvothermal method. The synthesized MOF [Zn(BDC)(DMF)] crystal was characterized by PXRD, FTIR, FESEM-EDX, TGA, UV-DRS and BET. The catalytic activity of MOF [Zn(BDC)(DMF)] was investigated by 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) degradation under direct sunlight irradiation. The influence of various degradation parameters such as initial 4-NP concentration, dosage, pH and HO concentration were investigated. The results indicated that the synthesized MOF [Zn(BDC)(DMF)] exhibited strong photocatalytic activity in the presence of NaBH under sunlight irradiation and the reduction of 4-NP to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) completed within 10 min. The study provides the synthesized MOF [Zn(BDC)(DMF)] crystal can be used as a high performance catalyst for the treatment of dyes in wastewater.

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Light-responsive fluorescent organic nanoparticles (NPs) based on tetraphenylethylene (TPE) have been developed for the release of 4 equiv of chlorambucil (Cbl) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) utilizing aggregation-induced-emission (AIE) phenomena. Our newly developed TPE­(Cbl)4 NPs displayed strong fluorescence because of its AIE. Upon exposure to visible light, our TPE­(Cbl)4 NPs simultaneously produced singlet oxygen and uncaged 4 equiv of the anticancer drug in a sequential manner in their aggregated state. On the other hand, the released photoproduct also exhibited PDT activity. In vitro studies showed that TPE­(Cbl)4 NPs exhibited properties like self-tracking, cellular imaging, photoregulated chemo-photodynamic therapy, enhanced anticancer activity, and biocompatibility.