A light-activatable theranostic combination for ratiometric hypoxia imaging and oxygen-deprived drug activity enhancement

Synthesis and properties of the NIR-emitting ratiometric phosphorescence probe

Ir-tetraphenylbenzoporphyrin (IrTBP), an oxygen-sensitive phosphorescent complex, was initially synthesised (Supplementary Fig. 1), and the structure was confirmed by ¹HNMR and MALDI-TOF-MS spectra (Supplementary Figs. 2 and 3). Ir containing nanoprobes, Ir-NP, were then prepared by self-assembly of chlorosulfonylated IrTBP, chlorosulfonylated tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) and α, ω-amino-terminated polyethylene glycol in the aqueous solution (Fig. 1 and Supplementary Fig. 4). Dynamic light scattering (DLS)…