A Nanographene-Porphyrin Hybrid for Near-Infrared-Ii Phototheranostics.

Photoacoustic imaging (PAI)-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) in the second near-infrared (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) window has been attracting attention as a promising cancer theranostic platform. Here, it is reported that the pi-extended porphyrins fused with one or two nanographene units (NGP-1 and NGP-2) can serve as a new class of NIR-responsive organic agents, displaying absorption extending to approximate to 1000 and approximate to 1400 nm in the NIR-I and NIR-II windows, respectively. NGP-1 and NGP-2 are dispersed in water through encapsulation into self-assembled nanoparticles (NPs), achieving high photothermal conversion efficiency of 60% and 69%, respectively, under 808 and 1064 nm laser irradiation. Moreover, the NIR-II-active NGP-2-NPs demonstrated promising photoacoustic responses, along with high photostability and biocompatibility, enabling PAI and efficient NIR-II PTT of cancer in vivo. Water-dispersible nanoparticles containing two nanographene-porphyrin hybrids (NGP-1-NPs and NGP-2-NPs) are fabricated, displaying intense absorption in NIR-I and NIR-II windows and achieving high photothermal conversion efficiency of 60% and 69%, respectively. NIR-II-active NGP-2-NPs demonstrate promising photoacoustic responses along with high photostability and biocompatibility, enabling the photoacoustic imaging and efficient NIR-II photothermal therapy of cancer in vivo. image