Enhanced singlet oxygen generation of a soft salt through efficient energy transfer between two ionic metal complexes

Yun Ma; Shujun Zhang; Huanjie Wei; Yafang Dong; Liang Shen; Shujuan Liu; Qiang Zhao; Li Liu; Wai-Yeung Wong

doi:10.1039/c8dt00720a

Enhanced singlet oxygen generation of a soft salt through efficient energy transfer between two ionic metal complexes

Dalton Trans. 2018 Apr 24;47(16):5582-5588. doi: 10.1039/c8dt00720a.

Authors

Yun Ma¹, Shujun Zhang², Huanjie Wei², Yafang Dong², Liang Shen², Shujuan Liu², Qiang Zhao², Li Liu³, Wai-Yeung Wong⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics & Information Displays (KLOEID) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications (NJUPT), 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu, P. R. China. iamqzhao@njupt.edu.cn and Institute of Molecular Functional Materials and Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, P. R. China. rwywong@hkbu.edu.hk.
² Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics & Information Displays (KLOEID) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications (NJUPT), 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu, P. R. China. iamqzhao@njupt.edu.cn.
³ Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materials, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for the Synthesis and Application of Organic Functional Molecules, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, Hubei, P. R. China. liulihubei@hubu.edu.cn.
⁴ Institute of Molecular Functional Materials and Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, P. R. China. rwywong@hkbu.edu.hk and Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, P. R. China. wai-yeung.wong@polyu.edu.hk.

PMID: 29649345
DOI: 10.1039/c8dt00720a

Abstract

In this study, a soft salt complex based photosensitizer has been developed for photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer cells. The iridium(iii) complex [Ir(L)(L')]3+(PF6-)3 (C1) with L and L' being terpyridine ligands (L = 4'-phenyl-2,2':6',2''-terpyridine, L' = 3-([2,2':6',2''-terpyridin]-4'-yl)-9-hexyl-9H-carbazole) was chosen as the cationic component, and the iridium(iii) complex [Ir(dfppy)2CN2]-Bu4N+ (A1) was selected as the anionic component. Complexes C1 and A1 are directly connected through electrostatic interaction to form a soft salt based photosensitizer (S1), which exhibited an enhanced singlet oxygen generation rate because of efficient energy transfer between two ionic metal complexes. Furthermore, this novel photosensitizer was successfully applied in photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer cells for the first time.