Photodynamic therapy has proved to be an effective strategy for cancer therapy, and advanced photosensitizers for image-guided photodynamic therapy require biocompatibility, intense absorption, high ROS generation efficiency, phototoxicity, low irradiation power density and efficient emission. In this work, four red emissive azabenzanthrone derivatives have been designed and synthesized, which generally exhibit efficient aggregated state emission. Through structural optimization, 3-diphenylamino-11-azabenzanthrone was found to show satisfactory photo-induced ROS generation and high emission efficiency in the aggregated state. Under the irradiation of a white LED lamp with an ultralow power density of 1.67 mW cm⁻², this compound demonstrates significant photo-induced cytotoxicity toward HeLa cells. Moreover, deep tissue penetration can be realized by two-photon imaging of mouse brain vessels with these azabenzanthrone derivatives at vertical depths of up to 280 μm, attributed to the large emission wavelength and efficient emission.

中文翻译：

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红色发光的氮杂苯并蒽醌衍生物用于光动力治疗，具有超低光功率密度和两光子成像功能†

光动力疗法已被证明是一种有效的癌症治疗策略，用于图像引导光动力疗法的先进光敏剂需要生物相容性，强烈吸收，高ROS产生效率，光毒性，低辐照功率密度和有效发射。在这项工作中，已经设计并合成了四种红色的发光氮杂苯并蒽酮衍生物，它们通常表现出有效的聚集态发射。通过结构优化，发现3-二苯基氨基-11-氮杂苯并蒽醌在聚集态下显示出令人满意的光诱导活性氧生成和高发射效率。在具有1.67 mW cm ^-2的超低功率密度的白色LED灯的照射下，该化合物对HeLa细胞显示出明显的光诱导细胞毒性。此外，归因于发射波长大和发射效率高，这些氮杂苯并蒽醌衍生物在垂直深度可达280μm时，可以通过对小鼠脑血管进行双光子成像来实现深层组织穿透。