Multi-photon absorption organotin complex for bioimaging and promoting ROS generation.

ABSTRACT

Compared to general fluorescent dyes, multi-photon fluorescent dyes exhibit deeper tissue penetration and lower auto-fluorescence in the bio-imaging field. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an efficient multiphoton imaging agent for deep tissue imaging. In this work, an organotin derivative (HSnBu3) has been designed and synthesized, which shows multiphoton absorption activity. In constrast to the ignorable three-photon activity of the ligand, the complex (HSnBu3) exhibits three-photon activity under NIR excitation (1500 nm). Results of chemical and biological tests confirmed that HSnBu3 was more easily activated by oxygen resulting in a higher level of 1O2, which could induce a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential in HepG2 cells. It suggests that HSnBu3 has potential in photodynamic therapy.