Pt–N Coordination Rendering the Chemotherapeutic Agent with Photoactivated ROS Generation and Self-Reporting Cell Uptake

The performance of chemotherapeutic agents has been largely restrained by the dose-dependent toxic side effects. In this work, cisplatin (CDDP) was endowed with the capability of photoactivated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and self-reporting cell uptake via coordination with a small organic molecule MSN. In the resultant MSN–Pt, the Pt–N coordination could obviously enhance the intermolecular charge transfer (ICT) process that allows the integration of fluorescence imaging, photogenerated ROS, and chemotherapeutic performance. The resultant MSN–Pt can recognize between normal and cancer cells and quickly penetrate the cancer cell membrane, self-reporting the cell uptake. Upon light illumination, mitochondria and nuclei were severely damaged. An in vivo mouse model demonstrated that MSN–Pt completely inhibited the tumor growth, exhibiting a higher efficacy compared with that of CDDP. This work provides a facile strategy to develop chemotherapy (CT) drugs for drug-resistant cancers.