Ultra-Low Doses of Chirality Sorted (6,5) Carbon Nanotubes for Simultaneous Tumor Imaging and Photothermal Therapy

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) exhibit intrinsic fluorescence and strong optical absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) biological window (0.7–1.4 μm), rendering them ideal for in vivo imaging and photothermal therapy. Advances in SWCNT sorting have led to improved nanoelectronics and are promising for nanomedicine. To date, SWCNTs used in vivo consist of heterogeneous mixtures of nanotubes and only a small subset of chirality nanotubes fluoresces or heats under a NIR laser. Here, we demonstrate that separated (6,5) SWCNTs exchanged into a biocompatible surfactant, C18-PMH-mPEG, are more than 6-fold brighter in photoluminescence on the per mass basis, afford clear tumor imaging, and reach requisite photothermal tumor ablation temperatures with a >10-fold lower injected dose than as-synthesized SWCNT mixtures while exhibiting relatively low (6,5) accumulation in the reticuloendothelial system. The intravenous injection of ∼4 μg of (6,5) SWCNTs per mouse (0.254 mg/kg) for dual imaging/photothermal therapy is, by far, the lowest reported dose for nanoparticle-based in vivo therapeutics.