A lead BODIPY-phenylanthracene dyad for application in photodynamic therapy

Over the past four years we have developed BODIPY dyads capable of triplet state generation from charge transfer states generated by photoinduced electron transfer. In the current work we identify a lead compound for application in photodynamic therapy. This system is composed of a phenylanthracene electron donor unit and a dimethyl-substituted BODIPY acceptor unit. We have demonstrated that this compound, in sub-micromolar concentrations, can effectively generate singlet oxygen in polar solvents and induce cytotoxicity in human breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-468) when exposed to light. The photophysical properties of these compounds are chemically tunable and thus open the door not only to a new class of photodynamic therapy photosensitizers, but also agents for triplet-triplet annihilation up-conversion applications.