Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) nanoparticles have been widely applied in photodynamic therapy (PDT) over the past few years. However, amorphous nanoaggregates usually occur in their preparation, resulting in loose packing with disordered molecular structures. This still allows free intramolecular motions, thus leading to limited brightness and PDT efficiency. Herein, we report deep-red AIE nanocrystals (NCs) of DTPA-BS-F by following the facile method of nanoprecipitation. It is observed that DTPA-BS-F NCs possess not only a high photoluminescence quantum yield value of 8% in the deep-red region (600-850 nm) but also an impressive reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation efficiency of up to 69%. Moreover, DTPA-BS-F NCs targeting dual-organelles of lysosomes and nucleus to generate ROS are also achieved, thus boosting the PDT effect in cancer therapy both in vitro and in vivo. This work provides high-performance AIE NCs to simultaneously target two organelles for efficient photodynamic therapy, indicating their promising application in all-in-one theranostic platforms.
Keywords: aggregation-induced emission; dual organelle-targeting; organic nanocrystals; photodynamic therapy; theranostics.