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Photothermal therapy (PTT) has emerged as a promising strategy for the treatment of tumors. However, the intrinsic self-repair mechanism of cells and the nonspecific photothermal effect of photothermal agents can result in poor treatment outcomes and normal tissue injury. To address this issue, we developed a dual light activatable perylenediimide derivative (P-NO) for nitric oxide-enhanced PTT. P-NO can self-assemble into nanoparticles in aqueous solutions. The P-NO nanoparticles are capable of releasing both NO and a photothermal molecule (P-NH) upon green light irradiation. The simultaneous release of NO and P-NH activates the photothermal effect and inhibits cell protection autophagy, thereby improving the therapeutic efficacy of PTT under near-infrared (NIR) light. Moreover, the switch on of NIR fluorescence allows real-time monitoring of the release of P-NH. Remarkably, in a mouse subcutaneous tumor model, significant tumor ablation can be achieved following dual light activated photothermal gas therapy. This work offers a promising and straightforward approach to constructing activatable perylenediimide-based photothermal agents for enhancing the effectiveness of photothermal gas therapy.

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) as the biomarker of early stage ovarian cancer is essentially difficult to detect due to lack of target spots. A dually crosslinked supramolecular hydrogel (DCSH) was developed to achieve sensing of LPA, which acts as a competitive guest molecule triggering the responsive crosslinking of the DCSH. Through this strategy, the surface plasmon resonance combined with optical waveguide spectroscopy could be used to quantitatively detect LPA with a responsive range covering physiological conditions (in pure form as well as mimicking LPA plasma solution) with high selectivity and sensitivity. LPA efficiently immerses into the host molecule β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) up to a 1:2 ratio by the competitive interaction mechanism, confirmed by one-dimensional nuclear overhauser effect spectroscopy (1D NOESY), high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and computational simulation. Our method opens a new strategy to detect biomarkers without target spots and provides a platform for surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based sensors measuring small molecules.

Developing a specific, ratiometric, and reversible detection method for metal ions is significant to guard against the threat of metal-caused environmental pollution and organisms poisoning. Here a supramolecular host-guest system (WP5⊃G) based on water-soluble pillar[5]arene (WP5) and water-soluble quaternized perylene diimide derivative (G) was constructed. Morphological transformation was achieved during the process of adding WP5 into G aqueous solution, and a fluorescence "turn-off" phenomenon was observed which was caused by supramolecular photoinduced electron transfer (PET). Meanwhile, hydrophobic effect and electrostatic interaction played important roles in this supramolecular process, which was confirmed by isothermal titration calorimeter (ITC) and ζ potential experiments. Furthermore, the supramolecular host-guest system could be a "turn-on" fluorescent probe for Fe 3+ ion detection through the process of interdicting supramolecular PET. Moreover, the Fe 3+ ion detection showed specific, ratiometric, and reversible performances with a detection limit of 2.13 × 10 -7 M, which might have great potentials in biological and environmental monitoring.

Animal cells have complicated dynamics of cell membrane structures which require desirable dyes for in vivo imaging. Here, an asymmetric amphiphilic zwitterionic perylenediimide (ZP) derivative has been constructed by introducing an octyl chain and a zwitterionic head to each imide position of perylenediimide chromophore. ZP could self-assemble into vesicles in aqueous solution. The aggregated ZP vesicles have been explored to image cell inner or surface membrane structures by a controlled disassembly process. After being taken up into cells, ZP vesicles disassemble into monomers and then incorporate into cell inner membranes. The vesicles can also disassemble in acid food and incorporate into cell surface membrane of gut cells. The research provides a new tool to label the complicated cell membrane structures with up to 3 days long-term labeling for life science applications.