Newly synthesized water soluble cholinium-purpurin photosensitizers and their stabilized gold nanoparticles as promising anticancer agents.

For possible future use in Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) and/or Photothermal Therapy (PTT) of cancer and screening of cancer cells a new type of ionic liquid photosensitizer -Cholinium-Purpurin-18 (Chol-Pu-18) - was synthesized and small gold (Au) nanoparticles, stabilized by this photosensitizer were prepared without adding any particular reducing agents and CTAB. UV-Vis spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were used for characterization of the nanoparticles and FAB-MS and NMR of the ionic liquid choline hydroxide, purpurin carboxylate and their ionic liquid type of photosensitizer were obtained.