Aggregation-Induced Ignition of Near-Infrared Phosphorescence of Non-Symmetric [Pt(C^N*N’^C’)] Complex in Poly(caprolactone)-based Block Copolymer Micelles: Evaluating the Alternative Design of Near-Infrared Oxygen Biosensors

In the present work, we described the preparation and characterization of the micelles based on amphiphilic poly(ε-caprolactone-block-ethylene glycol) block copolymer (PCL-b-PEG) loaded with non-symmetric [Pt(C^N*N’^C’)] complex (Pt1) (where C^N*N’^C’: 6-(phenyl(6-(thiophene-2-yl)pyridin-2-yl)amino)-2-(tyophene-2-yl)nicotinate). The obtained nanospecies displayed the ignition of near-infrared (NIR) phosphorescence upon an increase in the content of the platinum complexes in the micelles, which acted as the major emission component at 12 wt.% of Pt1. Emergence of the NIR band at 780 nm was also accompanied by a 3-fold growth of the quantum yield and an increase in the two-photon absorption cross-section that reached the value of 450 GM. Both effects are believed to be the result of progressive platinum complex aggregation inside hydrophobic poly(caprolactone) cores of block copolymer micelles, which has been ascribed to aggregation induced emission (AIE). The resulting phosphorescent (Pt1@PCL-b-PEG) micelles demonstrated pronounced sensitivity towards molecular oxygen, the key intracellular bioanalyte. The detailed photophysical analysis of the AIE phenomena revealed that the NIR emission most probably occurred due to the excimeric excited state of the 3MMLCT character. Evaluation of the Pt1@PCL-b-PEG efficacy as a lifetime intracellular oxygen biosensor carried out in CHO-K1 live cells demonstrated the linear response of the probe emission lifetime towards this analyte accompanied by a pronounced influence of serum albumin on the lifetime response. Nevertheless, Pt1@PCL-b-PEG can serve as a semi-quantitative lifetime oxygen nanosensor. The key result of this study consists of the demonstration of an alternative approach for the preparation of NIR biosensors by taking advantage of in situ generation of NIR emission due to the nanoconfined aggregation of Pt (II) complexes inside the micellar nanocarriers.