No abstract

The low oxygen dependence of type I photosensitizers (PSs) has made them a popular choice for treating solid tumors. However, the drawbacks of poor water solubility, short emission wavelength, poor stability, and inability to distinguish cancer cells from normal cells limit the application of most type I PSs in clinical therapy. Thereby, developing novel type I PSs for overcoming these problems is an urgent but challenging task. Herein, by utilizing the distinctive structural characteristics of anion‐π+ interactions, a highly water‐soluble type I PS (DPBC‐Br) with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristic and near‐infrared (NIR) emission is fabricated for the first time. DPBC‐Br displays remarkable water solubility (7.3 mM) and outstanding photobleaching resistance, enabling efficient and precise differentiation between tumor cells and normal cells in a wash‐free and long‐term tracking manner via NIR‐I imaging. Additionally, the superior type I reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by DPBC‐Br provide both specific killing of cancer cells in vitro and inhibition of tumor growth in vivo, with negligible systemic toxicity. This study rationally constructs a highly water‐soluble type I PS, which has higher reliability and controllability compared with conventional nanoparticle formulating procedures, offering great potential for clinical cancer treatment.

Near-infrared (NIR) photosensitizers with rapid reactive oxygen species (ROS) production ability are in great demand owing to their promising performances toward boosting photodynamic therapy (PDT) and deep deep-tissue imaging, but...

The exploitation of ultralong organic room temperature phosphorescence (UORTP) materials lags far behind the need because of the lack of general design strategies. Here we proposed a facile design strategy...

Ovalene’s nitrogenated derivative with all zigzag edges and nitrogen atom doping at the periphery has been developed via one-step nitrogenation of formylbisanthene. Because of nitrogen incorporation, these molecules show greatly decreased highest occupied molecular orbital levels, enhanced intermolecular interactions, and a reversible acid response. Aza-ovalene also exhibits a diatropic ring current along the periphery. This work provides rare examples of all-zigzag-edged N-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.