A hindrance-plane-hindrance molecular engineering strategy towards self-assembled nanorods for enhanced photodynamic therapy.

ABSTRACT: As the vital component of photodynamic therapy, organic photosensitizers face challenges in clinical translation due to their compromised reactive oxygen species generation and limited tumor targeting when aggregated or formulated as nanoparticles. Herein, we overcome this dilemma by proposing a steric hindrance-plane-hindrance molecular design strategy to guide the self-assembly of twisted donor-π-acceptor photosensitizers into rod-shaped nanoparticles, which concurrently enhance reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and tumor accumulation. Using TPA-S-DCR and other 7 molecules as models, we demonstrate that tuning the donor and acceptor steric hindrances around π-conjugated planar center enables the controllable spherical or rod-shaped supramolecular self-assembly of these twisted don

SUBMITTER: Tang Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12722262 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature