@article{Deiana2022,

title = {Site-selected thionated benzothioxanthene chromophores as heavy-atom-free small-molecule photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy},

author = {Marco Deiana and Pierre Josse and Clément Dalinot and Artem Osmolovskyi and Pablo Simón Marqués and José María Andrés Castán and Laura Abad Galán and Magali Allain and Lhoussain Khrouz and Olivier Maury and Tangui Le Bahers and Philippe Blanchard and Sylvie Dabos-Seignon and Cyrille Monnereau and Nasim Sabouri and Clément Cabanetos},

doi = {10.1038/s42004-022-00752-x},

issn = {2399-3669},

year  = {2022},

date = {2022-12-00},

journal = {Commun Chem},

volume = {5},

number = {1},

publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC},

abstract = {AbstractPhotodynamic therapy is a clinically approved anticancer modality that employs a light-activated agent (photosensitizer) to generate cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). There is therefore a growing interest for developing innovative photosensitizing agents with enhanced phototherapeutic performances. Herein, we report on a rational design synthetic procedure that converts the ultrabright benzothioxanthene imide (BTI) dye into three heavy-atom-free thionated compounds featuring close-to-unit singlet oxygen quantum yields. In contrast to the BTI, these thionated analogs display an almost fully quenched fluorescence emission, in agreement with the formation of highly populated triplet states. Indeed, the sequential thionation on the BTI scaffold induces torsion of its skeleton reducing the singlet-triplet energy gaps and enhancing the spin-orbit coupling. These potential PSs show potent cancer-cell ablation under light irradiation while remaining non-toxic under dark condition owing to a photo-cytotoxic mechanism that we believe simultaneously involves singlet oxygen and superoxide species, which could be both characterized in vitro. Our study demonstrates that this simple site-selected thionated platform is an effective strategy to convert conventional carbonyl-containing fluorophores into phototherapeutic agents for anticancer PDT.},

keywords = {Biochemistry, Environmental Chemistry, General Chemistry, Materials Chemistry},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}