Developing Far-red/Near-IR Absorbing Ir(III) Complexes for Photodynamic Therapy

时间：2023年7月11日（星期二）下午15:00

地点：笃行楼316-2会议室

报告人：Prof. Wenfang Sun

报告人简介：

Prof. Wenfang Sunis the Robert Ramsay Chair in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Alabama (UA) since Nov. 2022. Prior to joining UA, she was the James Meier Senior Professor and the Water F. and Verna Gehrts Presidential Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the North Dakota State University (NDSU) (2001-2022). She received her B.S. degree in 1990 from Wuhan University, China; and herPh.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from the Institute of Photographic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1995. She was employed by this institute as an Assistant Professor in 1995, and then as an Associate Professor in 1996. She joined the Department of Physics, University of Alabama at Birmingham as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in 1997, and was promoted to a Research Assistant Professor in 1999. In 2001, she joined NDSU as an Assistant Professor, was tenured and promoted to an Associate Professor in 2007, and became a Full Professor and named the Walter F. and Verna Gehrts Presidential Professor in 2011. She has published 145 peer-reviewed journal papers and 23 conference full papers. She obtained over $10,000,000 research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL), the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Transportation (DOT), the American Chemical Society – Petroleum Research Funds (ACS-PRF), the US Department of Argriculture (USDA), etc. She received numerous awards, including the NSFCAREER Award (2005-2011), the James A. Meier Senior Professorship (2016-2019), the NDSU Fred Waldron Award for Outstanding Research (2012), the NDSU Walter F. and Verna Gehrts Professorship (2011-2013), the NDSU Bison Ambassadors Apple Polisher Honoree (2009), the NDSU Featured Faculty (2006), and the 2^nd-Class Chinese Academy of Sciences Natural Science Award (2002). She organized/co-organized, or chaired >20 national or international symposia and presented >110 invited talks or seminars in conferences or universities.Currently, she serves on the editorial board offive international chemistry journals. Her research program focuses on the organic/organometallic nonlinear optical materials, organic/organometallic light emitting materials, photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy, and optical sensing materials.

报告摘要：

Transition-metal complexes with red to near-IR absorption are appealing potential photosensitizers (PSs) for precision phototheranostics, especially those containing heavy transition metals like Ru(II), Ir(III) and Os(II). We have synthesized several series of cationic or neutral Ir(III) complexes for photodynamic therapy (PDT). The photophysics of these complexes were systematically investigated via UV-vis absorption, emission, and transient absorption spectroscopy to explore the structure-property correlations. The in vitro PDT effects of these complexes were evaluated toward a human skin melanoma cell line or a breast cancer cell line. One neutral Ir(III) complex tethered with a far-red absorbing organic chromophore was encapsulated into polymer micelles and investigated as bifunctional agents for 660-nm light-triggered synergetic PDT/photothermal therapy (PTT) of breast cancer in vitro and in vivo. Upon activation by the 660-nm light, both the free complex and the micelle exhibited high photocytotoxicity induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and hyperthermia. Both the ROS generation and photo-thermal conversion efficiencies of the micelle were higher than those of the free Ir(III) dyad. The micelle also exhibited much enhanced cellular uptake and higher tumor accumulation, demonstrating its great tumor selectivity. Lysosomes and DNA have been manifested to be the major intracellular damaging targets. In vivo studies showed that the micelle exhibited extremely low dark toxicity but excellent PDT/PTT antitumor effects. They can prevent cancer metastasis to lungs as well. This study demonstrated the potential of Ir(III) complexes to be developed into new far-red/NIR PSs for cooperative cancer phototherapy.