J-aggregation of photosensitizers leads to an ultrahigh drug-loading system for targeted delivery

Drug loading capacity is very important in the construction of targeted drug delivery systems (TDDSs) for the improvement of drug delivery efficiency. However, the drug-loading capacity of most nanomaterials is non-idealistic, and developing the high drug-loading TDDSs is still a critical challenge. In this work, an ultrahigh loading system (denoted as HMPB2) was prepared via J-aggregation of an aza-boron dipyrromethene derivative (Bod) by using hollow MnO2 modified with glucosamine pillar[5]arene as a carrier, which was demonstrated to have typical J-aggregate absorption of Bod, specific cancer cells targeting ability, negligible dark cytotoxicity, and potent phototoxicity. This work provides a successful example to construct an ultrahigh drug-loading system via J-aggregation for targeted delivery.