Glucose-Modified Porphyrins With Superior Photostability for Enhanced Photodynamic Therapy

As one of the three major biomolecules, glucose and its modified derivatives exhibit strong cell specificity for cancer cells. Four glucose-modified porphyrin compounds (Glu-P, Glu-ZnP, Glu-InP, and Glu-CuP) were synthesized. Among these, Glu-P demonstrates excellent photostability, while Glu-ZnP exhibits the highest photophysical activity. In vitro anti-tumor experiments show that Glu-P has remarkable phototoxicity against cancer cells (HepG2, A549, and H-1975). Additionally, due to the specific targeting ability of porphyrin, it shows good biocompatibility with HS578Bst normal cells. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that Glu-InP also exhibits good photophysical activity. However, Glu-P outperforms it due to its superior photostability. With excellent photostability and a high singlet oxygen production rate, Glu-P presents a promising candidate for photodynamic therapy. These findings provide new insights for the development of effective metal-based anticancer photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy.