Construction of Gd(III) photosensitizers is important for designing theranostic agents owing to the unique properties arising from seven unpaired f electrons of the Gd(3+) ion. Combining these with the advantages of porpholactones with tunable NIR absorption, we herein report the synthesis of Gd(III) complexes Gd-1-4 (1, porphyrin; 2, porpholactone; 3 and 4, cis- and trans-porphodilactone, respectively) and investigated their function as singlet oxygen ((1) O2 ) photosensitizers. These Gd complexes displayed (1) O2 quantum yields (ΦΔ s) from 0.64-0.99 with the order Gd-1<Gd-2<Gd-3<Gd-4. The gradually enhanced (1) O2 sensitization after β-oxazolone moiety replacement was ascribed to the narrowing of the energy gap (ΔE) between the lowest triplet states (T1 ) of the ligand and the energy level of the (1) Δg →(3) Σg transition of (1) O2 . In particular, Gd-4 is capable of excitation in the visible to NIR region (400-700 nm) with a quantum yield near unity. These Gd complexes were first demonstrated as efficient photosensitizers in photocatalysis such as oxidative C-H bond functionalization of secondary or tertiary amines, and the oxygenation of the natural product cholesterol. Finally, after glycosylation, these water-soluble Gd complexes showed potential applications in photodynamic therapy (PDT) in HeLa cells. This work revealed that Gd(III) complexes of "bioinspired" β-modified porpholactones are efficient NIR photosensitizers and form a chemical basis to construct appealing photocatalysts and theranostic agents based on lanthanides.
Keywords: gadolinium; photocatalysis; photocytotoxicity; singlet oxygen; tetrapyrrole.
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