Phosphorescent NIR emitters for biomedicine: applications, advances and challenges
Pavel S. Chelushkin, Julia R. Shakirova, Ilya S. Kritchenkov, Vadim A. Baigildin, Sergey P. Tunik
Abstract
; (iii) and several therapeutic applications such as photodynamic (PDT), photothermal (PTT), and photoactivated cancer (PACT) therapies as well as their combinations with other therapeutic and imaging modalities to yield new variants of combined therapies and theranostics. Nevertheless, emerging applications of these compounds in experimental biomedicine and their implementation as therapeutic agents practically applicable in PDT, PTT, and PACT face challenges related to a critically important improvement of their photophysical and physico-chemical characteristics. This review outlines the current state of the art and achievements of the last decade and stresses the most promising trends, major development prospects, and challenges in the design of NIR phosphors suitable for biomedical applications.