Non polymeric nanoparticles for photodynamic therapy applications: recent developments.

Photodynamic therapy has emerged as an alternative to chemotherapy and radiotherapy for cancer treatment. Nanoparticles have recently been proposed as effective carriers for photosensitizers. Depending on their chemical composition, these can be used for diagnosis and therapy due to the selective accumulation of the photosensitizer in cancer cells in vitro or in tumors in vivo. Multifunctional nanoplatforms combining several applications within the same nano-object emerge as potential important theranostic tools. This review, based on the chemical nature of the nanoparticles will discuss recent advances in the area of non polymeric nanoparticles for photodynamic therapy applications.

Synthesis of Copper(I) catenanes incorporating a disulfide bridge and their deposition on a gold surface

The synthesis of two coordinating catenates with the ability to undergo surface-confined chemistry is described. For each catenate, one of the rings includes a 2,9-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline unit as a coordinating moiety and a disulfide bridge, which allows adsorption of the catenate onto a gold surface, thus going from a molecular catenate to a [gold-adsorbed] species in which gold atoms are elements of one of the rings.

Controlled molecular motions in copper-complexed rotaxanes: an XAS study.

The environment of the central metal of a molecular machine-like copper rotaxane was observed by XAS experiments. The wheel of the rotaxane is a hetero-bischelating macrocycle containing both bidentate (phenanthroline) and terdentate (terpyridine) moieties. The axle of the assembly contains only a bidentate moiety. Applying an external chemical stimulus-oxidation of the metal-increases the number of coordinating atoms required by the metal template from 4 to 5. This variation is consistent with the oscillation of the wheel around the axle, leading thus to the most stable environment for the metal in the Cu(II) rotaxane.