Thiadiazole molecules and poly(ethylene glycol)-block-polylactide self-assembled nanoparticles as effective photothermal agents.

A new photothermal nano-agent was obtained by the coprecipitation of 2,5-Bis(2,5-bis(2-thienyl)-N-dodecyl pyrrole) thieno[3,4-b][1,2,5] thiadiazole (TPT-TT) and a biodegradable amphiphilic block copolymer, methoxypoly(ethylene glycol)2K-block-poly(D,L-lactide)2K (mPEG2K-PDLLA2K). TPT-TT, a donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) type small molecule, with bis(2-thienyl)-N-alkylpyrrole (TPT) as the donor and thieno[3,4-b]thiadiazole (TT) as the acceptor was a strong near infrared (NIR) absorber, which could convert the absorbed light energy into heat. The formation of TPT-TT nanoparticles (TPT-NPs), which possessed high stability in water, was confirmed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TPT-NPs showed high photothermal conversion efficiency (32%) and excellent photostability and heating reproducibility. The photostability of TPT-TT NPs was much better than that of indocyanine green (ICG), a federal drug administration (FDA) approved NIR dye. Besides, TPT-TT NPs exhibited significant photothermal therapeutic effect toward human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) and human liver hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells, while no appreciable dark cytotoxicity was observed. These results highlight the potential of TPT-TT NPs as an effective photothermal agent for cancer therapy.