Organic nanomedicine containing nonlinear optical chromophores for ultrastable photo-to-heat converting theranostics in the near-infrared window

Organic molecules that are active in the near-infrared (NIR) bio-window for photo-to-heat energy-converting theranostics have attracted much attention in cancer therapy. However, current organic NIR-absorbing molecules are still suffering from the inefficient non-radiative decay or serious photobleaching under light irradiation. Herein, we design a convenient strategy to load a new kind of NIR-absorbing nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophore FTC-3f with the biocompatible polymer, methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactideco-glycolide) (mPEG-PLGA). The resulted FTC-3f/PLGA nanoparticles showed excellent stability, high photothermal conversion efficiency (∼51.11%) and good photoacoustic performance. Moreover, in vitro anticancer experiments demonstrated that the FTC-3f/PLGA nanoparticles possess a high PTT (photothermal therapy) efficiency under NIR laser irradiation. This work thus provides an insight into the exploration of versatile organic NIR-absorbing nanoparticles toward future practical PTT application.