A New Class of Porphyrin Photosensitizers for Mitochondria Targeted Photodynamic Therapy

Targeted cancer therapies offer a promising strategy to overcome problems associated with conventional treatments. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is selective and minimally invasive when compared to other treatment procedures. However, photosensitizers (PSs) used in PDT accumulate in healthy tissues and cause adverse effects during PDT action. The specificity and efficiency of PDT could be improved through "active" and "passive" targeting strategies. Herein, we design and synthesize a novel porphyrin PSs to target mitochondria in tumour cells and improve the one and two-photon phototoxicity. The synthesized PSs are also encapsulated onto cationic liposomes to achieve the mitochondria targeting. Selective mitochondria targeting and improved photophysical properties of new PSs could improve PDT modalities.