A novel near-infrared trifluoromethyl heptamethine cyanine dye with mitochondria-targeting for integration of collaborative treatment of photothermal and sonodynamic therapy

Both photothermal therapy (PTT) and sonodynamic therapy (SDT) are neoteric therapeutic method for tumor control and ablation without invasive. Herein, we report the synthesis of a newly designed near-infrared (NIR) trifluoromethyl-heptamethine cyanine (TFHC) dye, which could synergistically work as a mitochondrial-targeting sonosensitizer for SDT and also a photothermal therapy agent (PTA) for PTT. The structure and chemical components of TFHC were determined by ¹H NMR and mass spectrum (MS). Furthermore, the introduce of trifluoromethyl was proved drastically improving the biocompatibility of TFHC. Moreover, TFHC was capable to kill cancer cells with a high efficiency (80%) under NIR and ultrasound (US) without causing any significant side effects. In general, the prepared mitochondria-targeting TFHC obtains the synergy effect for the PTT and SDT with excellent therapeutic effects and low side effects, which can be harnessed for the combinational cancer non-invasive therapy in the near future.