Micelles of poly[oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate] as delivery vehicles for zinc phthalocyanine photosensitizers

Drug-loaded polymeric micelles have proven to be highly effective carrier systems for the efficient delivery of hydrophobic photosensitizers (PSs) in photodynamic therapy (PDT). This study introduces the micellization potential of poly(oligoethylene glycol methyl ether methacrylate) (pOEGMA) as a novel approach, utilizing the hydrophobic methacrylate segments of pOEGMA to interact with highly hydrophobic zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc), thereby forming a potential micellar drug carrier system. The ZnPc molecule was synthesized from phthalonitrile derivatives and its fluorescence, photodegradation, and singlet oxygen quantum yields were determined in various solvents. In solvents such as tetrahydrofuran, dimethyl sulfoxide, and N,N-dimethylformamide, the ZnPc compound exhibited the requisite photophysical and photochemical properties for PDT applications. The pOEGMA homopolymer was synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization, while ZnPc-loaded pOEGMA micelles were prepared using the nanoprecipitation method. Characterization of the pOEGMA, ZnPc, and micelles was conducted using FTIR,1H-NMR, dynamic light scattering, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometries, gel permeation chromatography, and transmission electron microscopy. The critical micelle concentration was determined to be 0.027 mg ml-1using fluorescence spectrometry. The drug loading and encapsulation efficiencies of the ZnPc-loaded micelles were calculated to be 0.67% and 0.47%, respectively. Additionally, the release performance of ZnPc from pOEGMA micelles was monitored over a period of nearly 10 d, while the lyophilized micelles exhibited stability for 3 months. Lastly, the ZnPc-loaded micelles were more biocompatible than ZnPc on L929 cell line. The results suggest that the pOEGMA homopolymer possesses the capability to micellize through its methacrylate segments when interacting with highly hydrophobic molecules, presenting a promising avenue for enhancing the delivery efficiency of hydrophobic PSs in PDT. Moreover, it was also deciphered that obtained formulations were highly biocompatible according to cytotoxicity results and could be safely employed as drug delivery systems in further applications.

Comparing Singlet Oxygen Generation of Schiff Base Substituted Novel Silicon Phthalocyanines by Sonophotochemical and Photochemical Applications

Although the sonophotodynamic method has an effective therapeutic outcome for anticancer treatment compared with the photodynamic method, there are not enough related studies in the literature and this study aims to contribute to the development of sonophotodynamic studies. For this purpose, the Schiff base substituted silicon phthalocyanines were designed and synthesized as effective sensitizer candidates and the photophysicochemical and sonophotochemical features of the phthalocyanines were examined to increase singlet oxygen efficiency. The calculated ΦΔ values indicate that the contribution of substituent groups improved the production of singlet oxygen compared with silicon (IV) phthalocyanine dichloride (SiPcCI2 ) and also the sonophotochemical applications increased the singlet oxygen yields. The ΦΔ values (ΦΔ  = 0.76 for axially bis-{4-[(E)-(pyridin-3-ylimino)methyl]phenol} substituted silicon (IV) phthalocyanine (2a), 0.68 for axially bis-4-[(E)-{[(pyridin-3-yl)methyl]imino}methyl]phenol substituted silicon (IV) phthalocyanine (2b) in photochemical study) reached to ΦΔ  = 0.98 for 2a, 0.94 for 2b in sonophotochemical study. This article will enrich the literature on increasing singlet oxygen yield.

Synthesis of axially Schiff base new substituted silicon phthalocyanines and investigation of photochemical and sono-photochemical properties

Sono-photodynamic therapy, which show a very high therapeutic effect compared to photodynamic therapy, is a newer method for anticancer treatments. However, unlike Photodynamic therapy (PDT), the number of studies measuring the efficiency of singlet oxygen for the Sono-photodynamic therapy (SPDT) method is quite insufficient in the literature. Therefore, this study aimed to synthesis novel axially substituted silicon (IV) phthalocyanines containing imine groups with improved photochemical properties and then reported the efficiency of singlet oxygen by both of photochemical and sono-photochemical studies. According to the results, the substituent group increased the singlet oxygen yield of silicon (IV) phthalocyanine dichloride and the sono-photochemical effect increased the singlet oxygen yields (Φ_Δ=0.35 for 2a, 0.69 for 2b in photochemical study, 0.78 for 2a, 0.97 for 2b in sono-photochemical study).This article may pave the way to achieve high singlet oxygen efficiency.

Pegylated metal-free and zinc(II) phthalocyanines: synthesis, photophysicochemical properties and in vitro photodynamic activities against head, neck and colon cancer cell lines

In this study, a series of peripherally and non-peripherally tetra-substituted metal-free and zinc(II) phthalocyanines were successfully prepared in good yields by cyclotetramerization of the phthalonitrile derivative bearing a tetraethylene glycol methyl ether group at 3- and 4- positions. All newly synthesized compounds were characterized using spectroscopic methods, such as FT-IR, NMR, mass and UV-Vis spectroscopy. To determine the therapeutic potential of the synthesized phthalocyanines, the effects of the substitution pattern (peripheral and non-peripheral) and central metal atom on the photophysicochemical properties were investigated. When comparing their singlet oxygen generation capabilities (Φ_Δ), metallo-phthalocyanine derivatives with zinc (0.73 for 1b and 0.70 for 2b) showed higher singlet oxygen yield than metal-free derivatives (0.21 for 1a and 0.12 for 2a) in DMSO. The photodynamic therapy activities of the water-soluble phthalocyanines were tested via in vitro studies using the A253, FaDu (head and neck cancer cell lines), and HT29 (colon cancer) cell lines. The strongest photodynamic activity was found in 1b and 2b molecules with a metal core among the four molecules studied. The results suggested that the non-peripherally tetra-substituted 1b molecule was regarded as a suitable photodynamic therapy agent due to its light cytotoxicity and secondary impact induced by ROS production.

New soluble 4-(4-formyl-2,6-dimethoxyphenoxy) substituted phthalocyanines: Synthesis, characterization, photophysical and photochemical properties

This work describes the synthesis, spectral and fluorescence properties of bis 4-(4-formyl-2,6-dimethoxyphenoxy) substituted zinc (ZnPc) and magnesium (MgPc) phthalocyanines. The new compounds have been characterized by elemental analysis, UV-Vis, FT-IR, 1H-NMR and mass spectra. Afterward, the effects of including metal ion on the photophysicochemical properties of the complexes were studied in biocompatible solvent DMSO to analyze their potential to use as a photosensitizer in photodynamic therapy (PDT). The fluorescence and singlet oxygen quantum yields were calculated as 0.04–0.15 and 0.70–0.52 for ZnPc and MgPc, respectively. According to the results, MgPc has higher fluorescence quantum yield than ZnPc, while ZnPc has higher singlet oxygen quantum yield than MgPc. The results show that the synthesized complexes can have therapeutic outcomes for cancer treatment.

The Influence of Some Axial Ligands on Ruthenium-Phthalocyanine Complexes: Chemical, Photochemical, and Photobiological Properties

This work presents a new procedure to synthesize ruthenium–phthalocyanine complexes and uses diverse spectroscopic techniques to characterize trans-[RuCl(Pc)DMSO] (I) (Pc = phthalocyanine) and trans-[Ru(Pc)(4-ampy)₂] (II) (4-ampy = 4-aminopyridine). The triplet excited-state lifetimes of (I) measured by nanosecond transient absorption showed that two processes occurred, one around 15 ns and the other around 3.8 μs. Axial ligands seemed to affect the singlet oxygen quantum yield. Yields of 0.62 and 0.14 were achieved for (I) and (II), respectively. The lower value obtained for (II) probably resulted from secondary reactions of singlet oxygen in the presence of the ruthenium complex. We also investigate how axial ligands in the ruthenium–phthalocyanine complexes affect their photo-bioactivity in B16F10 murine melanoma cells. In the case of (I) at 1 μmol/L, photosensitization with 5.95 J/cm² provided B16F10 cell viability of 6%, showing that (I) was more active than (II) at the same concentration. Furthermore, (II) was detected intracellularly in B16F10 cell extracts. The behavior of the evaluated ruthenium–phthalocyanine complexes point to the potential use of (I) as a metal-based drug in clinical therapy. Changes in axial ligands can modulate the photosensitizer activity of the ruthenium phthalocyanine complexes.

Effect of Position and Connected Atom on Photophysical and Photochemical Properties of Some Fluorinated Metallophthalocyanines

This study presents the preparation of a new phthalonitrile derivative namely 3-(4-(trifluoromethoxy)thiophenoxy)phthalonitrile (1) and a series of its metallated phthalocyanines (M = Zn (II) (1a) and In(III) (1b)). In addition, the peripheral analog of the indium phthalocyanine chloride (2b) was newly synthesized. Characterization of the resulting compounds was carried out by utilizing various spectroscopic methods such as FT-IR, ¹ H NMR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The influence of concentration on aggregation properties of compound 1a was investigated at different concentrations of DMSO. The effect of solvent type on aggregation properties of compound 1a was studied, as well. According to the referred procedures, the macrocyclic molecules (2a, 3a-b and 4a-b) were prepared. The effect of some parameters including metal ion, the position of the substituent and the connected atom (oxo or thio) on photochemical and photophysical features of compounds (1a-b, 2a-b, 3a-b, and 4a-b) was studied for evaluation of their potential as a photosensitizer in PDT, comparatively. The highest singlet oxygen quantum yields (Φ_Δ  = 0.71 for 1a and 0.80 for 2b) were obtained for complexes 1a and 1b in DMSO. The photophysical and photochemical features of the studied macromolecules are therefore suitable for photodynamic therapy applications.

Synthesis, in vitro inhibition effect of novel phthalocyanine complexes as carbonic anhydrase and paraoxonase enzyme inhibitors

The preparation and assessment of carbonic anhydrase and paraoxonase enzyme inhibition properties of 3-(2-(5-amino-4-(4-bromophenyl)-3-methyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)ethoxy)phthalonitrile (2) and its nitrogen-containing non-peripheral phthalocyanine derivatives (3 and 4) are reported for the first time. The new phthalonitrile and its phthalocyanine derivatives have been elucidated by FT-IR spectroscopy, 1H-NMR, [Formula: see text]C-NMR, mass and UV-vis spectroscopy. The results demonstrated that all synthesized compounds moderately inhibited carbonic anhydrase and paraoxonase enzymes. Among the compounds, the most active ones were found to be compound 4 for PON (Ki : 0.14 [Formula: see text]M), compound 3 for hCA I (Ki : 22.52 [Formula: see text]M) and compound 1 for hCA II (Ki : 13.62 [Formula: see text]M).

Phthalocyanines with bromobenzenesulfanyl substituents at non-peripheral position: Preparation, photophysical and photochemical properties

Electron-donating bromobenzenesulfanyl-group-substituted phthalonitrile derivative (1) and its novel non-peripherally tetra-substituted metal-free, indium and zinc phthalocyanine complexes (2–4) have been prepared for the first time. The chemical structures of this new phthalonitrile and its phthalocyanine derivatives were characterized by UV-vis, FT-IR, NMR, and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The introduction of this electron-donating sulfanyl type of non-peripheral substituent accounts for a remarkable red shift of the phthalocyanine Q band to approximately 730 nm. Photophysical and photochemical properties of the novel functional complexes were also examined as photosensitizers for PDT applications.