Volume 63, Issue 2 e202313890
Research Article

π–π Interaction-Induced Organic Long-wavelength Room-Temperature Phosphorescence for In Vivo Atherosclerotic Plaque Imaging

Yufan Zhang

Yufan Zhang

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, 300071 Tianjin, China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (lead), Writing - original draft (lead)

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Jisen Li

Jisen Li

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, 300071 Tianjin, China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal)

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Jiliang Zhao

Jiliang Zhao

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, 300071 Tianjin, China

Contribution: ​Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal)

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Xuefei Li

Xuefei Li

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, 300071 Tianjin, China

Contribution: ​Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal)

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Zhimei Wang

Zhimei Wang

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, 300071 Tianjin, China

Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Software (equal)

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Yicheng Huang

Yicheng Huang

School of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Wenzhou University, 325035 Wenzhou, China

Contribution: ​Investigation (supporting), Methodology (supporting)

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Prof. Hongkai Zhang

Prof. Hongkai Zhang

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, 300071 Tianjin, China

Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Data curation (supporting)

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Prof. Qian Liu

Prof. Qian Liu

Department of Urology, Tianjin First Central Hospital, 300192 Tianjin, China

Contribution: Data curation (supporting), Software (supporting)

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Prof. Yunxiang Lei

Corresponding Author

Prof. Yunxiang Lei

School of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Wenzhou University, 325035 Wenzhou, China

Contribution: Visualization (lead), Writing - review & editing (supporting)

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Prof. Dan Ding

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dan Ding

Frontiers Science Center for Cell Responses, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Bioactive Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, 300071 Tianjin, China

Contribution: Funding acquisition (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)

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First published: 07 December 2023
Citations: 41

Graphical Abstract

In this study, benzo[c][1,2,5] thiadiazole/phenyl(pyridin-2-yl)methanone (BT/PPO)-doped long-wavelength (600 nm) room-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) material has been synthesized. The BT/PPO nanoparticles exhibit long-wavelength afterglow luminescence of 120 s, with a maximum penetration depth of 10 mm. Additionally, the potential of BT/PPO nanoparticles for detecting atherosclerotic plaques has been demonstrated.

Abstract

Room-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials have great potential for in vivo imaging because they can circumvent the autofluorescence of biological tissues. In this study, a class of organic-doped long-wavelength (≈600 nm) RTP materials with benzo[c][1,2,5] thiadiazole as a guest was constructed. Both host and guest molecules have simple structures and can be directly purchased commercially at a low cost. Owing to the long phosphorescence wavelength of the doping system, it exhibited good tissue penetration (10 mm). Notably, these RTP nanoparticles were successfully used to image atherosclerotic plaques, with a signal-to-background ratio (SBR) of 44.52. This study provides a new approach for constructing inexpensive red organic phosphorescent materials and a new method for imaging cardiovascular diseases using these materials.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the supplementary material of this article.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.