Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have a high optical absorbance in the near-infrared (NIR) region. In this special optical window, biological systems are known to be highly transparent. The optical properties of SWNTs provide an opportunity for selective photothermal therapy for cancer treatment. Specifically, CoMoCAT® nanotubes with a uniform size (about 0.81 nm) and a narrow absorption peak at 980 nm are ideal candidates for such a novel approach. Here, CoMoCAT® SWNTs are conjugated to folate, which can bind specifically to the surface of the folate receptor tumor markers. Folate-SWNT (FA-SWNT) targeted tumor cells were irradiated by a 980-nm laser. In our in vitro and in vivo experiments, FA-SWNT effectively enhanced the photothermal destruction on tumor cells and noticeably spared the photothermal destruction for nontargeted normal cells. Thus, SWNTs, combined with suitable tumor markers, can be used as novel nanomaterials for selective photothermal therapy for cancer treatment.

Oxidative coupling of a tetraalkylbipyrrole under FeIII-mediated coupling conditions in the presence of HCl results in a mixture of cyclo[6]- and cyclo[7]pyrroles, as well as the known cyclo[8]pyrrole. This "matched set" of heteroannulenes was analyzed by spectroscopic, electrochemical, and X-ray diffraction methods.

Translocation and localization of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in normal and cancerous cells have significant biomedical implications. In this study, SWNTs functionalized with different biomolecules in cells were observed with confocal laser scanning microscopy. Functionalized with PL-PEG, SWNTs were found to localize exclusively in mitochondria of both tumor and normal cells due to mitochondrial transmembrane potential, but they were found mainly in lysosomes of macrophages due to phagocytosis. However, when conjugated with different molecules, the subcellular localization of the surface-modified SWNT-PL-PEG depended on how SWNTs enter the cells: inside mitochondria if crossing cell membrane or inside lysosomes if being endocytosized. We also show that mitochondrial SWNT-PL-PEG, when irradiated with a near-infrared light, can induce cell apoptosis due to mitochondrial damages. These findings provide a better mechanistic understanding of cellular localization of SWNTs, which could lead to advanced biomedical applications such as the design of molecular transporters and development of SWNT-assisted cancer therapies.

Photoexcitation of an electron donor-acceptor linked dyad containing gold(III) and zinc(II) porphyrins (ZnPQ-AuIIIPQ+) results in electron transfer from the singlet excited state of ZnPQ to the metal center of AuPQ+ to produce the charge-separated state (ZnPQ*+-AuIIPQ) which has a long lifetime (10 mus) in nonpolar solvents such as cyclohexane and toluene.

Gold(III) porphyrins of the type (P-R)AuPF(6), where P = 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3,5-di-tert-butylphenyl)porphyrin and R is equal to H (1), NO(2) (2), or NH(2) (3) which is substituted at one of the eight beta-pyrrolic positions of the macrocycle, were investigated as to their electrochemistry and spectroelectrochemistry in nonaqueous media. Each compound undergoes three reductions, the first of which involves the central metal ion to give a Au(II) porphyrin or a Au(III) porphyrin pi-anion radical depending upon the nature of the porphyrin ring substituent. A similar metal-centered reduction also occurs for compounds 1, 3, and Au(III) quinoxalinoporphyrin, (PQ)AuPF(6) (4), where PQ = 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3,5-di-tert-butylphenyl)quinoxalino[2,3-b]porphyrin, and these results on the three Au(III) porphyrins overturn the long held assumption that reductions of such complexes only occur at the macrocycle. In contrast, when a NO(2) group is introduced on the porphyrin ring to give (P-NO(2))AuPF(6) (2), the site of electron transfer is changed from the gold metal to the macrocycle to give a porphyrin pi-anion radical in the first reduction step. This change in the site of electron transfer was examined by electrochemistry combined with thin-layer UV-vis spectroelectrochemistry and ESR spectroscopy of the singly reduced compound produced by chemical reduction. The reorganization energy (lambda) of the metal-centered electron transfer reduction for (P-H)AuPF(6) (1) in benzonitrile was determined as lambda = 1.23 eV by analyzing the rates of photoinduced electron transfer from the triplet excited states of an organic electron donor to 1 in light of the Marcus theory of electron transfer. The lambda value of the metal-centered electron transfer of gold porphyrin (1) is significantly larger than lambda values of ligand-centered electron transfer reactions of metalloporphyrins.