Low-power white light triggered AIE polymer nanoparticles with high ROS quantum yield for mitochondria-targeted and image-guided photodynamic therapy.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has received enormous attention due to its high specificity in eliminating the malignant tumor cells without interposing normal cells, as compared with chemotherapy. In this work, we fabricated mitochondria-targeted NPs using a new AIE cross-linked copolymer (PAIE-TPP) with far red/near-infrared (FR/NIR) subcellular bioimaging ability and a high reactive oxygen species (ROS) quantum yield of 77.9%. Such high efficiency ROS generation is desirable to increase the efficiency of PDT. The PAIE-TPP NPs possess great cytocompatibility but exert severe cytotoxicity to cancer cells with only 4% of cell viability under ultralow-power-intensity (10 mW cm) light irradiation. The AIE cross-linked copolymer NPs not only emit bright FR/NIR fluorescence for efficient in vitro subcellular-mitochondrial bioimaging but also generate high ROS for PDT.