Research Progress in Cancer Treatment by Diketopyrrolopyrrole-Based Photosensitizers and Photothermal Agents

Authors：Wang, Lingyun^*; Xin, Shuqi; Tang, Hao; Cao, Derong

Source：CHINESE JOURNAL OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, 2020, 40(12): 4155-4167.

DOI：10.6023/cjoc202005041

• diketopyrrolopyrrole
• photodynamic therapy
• photothermal therapy
• combined therapy

Cancer has become one of the major threats to human health in modern society. Phototherapy including photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT), as a new type of tumor treatment, has received more and more attentions due to its high spatiotemporal precision, noninvasive nature, controllability, low toxicity and repeatable treatment without initial resistance. It is important to obtain a highly efficient and ideal photosensitizer for reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation for PDT. Photothermal agents with high photothermal conversion efficiency are also in urgent need for PTT. Diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) is an excellent type of photosensitizer and photothermal reagent because of its good structural planarity, strong electron affinity, simple synthesis, easy structure modification and high molar absorption coefficient. The research progress of DPP-based photosensitizers and photothermal agents in recent year, including structural modification of DPP, the structure-activity relationship, the mechanism of phototherapy and some representative examples is summarized. Finally, a perspective on the future development of phototherapy based on DPP is presented.