Near Infrared Light‐Triggered Drug Generation and Release from Gold Nanoparticle Carriers for Photodynamic Therapy
A photoprecursor Pc 227 is covalently bound onto gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) to produce the known photodynamic therapy (PDT) drug Pc 4 upon 660 nm photoirradiation. The photochemical formation of the photoproduct Pc 4 is identified by spectroscopy, chromatography, and mass spectrometry and its PDT efficacy is equal to Pc 4 when administered non-covalently by Au NPs, with the added benefit of improved covalent delivery and targeted NIR-triggered release from the covalent Pc 227-Au NP conjugate, while during transport the attached Pc 227 is quenched by the Au NP and PDT inactivated.