Stereotactic Photodynamic Therapy Using a Two‐Photon AIE Photosensitizer

Two‐photon photodynamic therapy (TP‐PDT) is emerging as a powerful strategy for stereotactic targeting of diseased areas, but ideal photosensitizers (PSs) are currently lacking. This work reports a smart PS with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) feature, namely DPASP, for TP‐PDT with excellent performances. DPASP exhibits high affinity to mitochondria, superior photostability, large two‐photon absorption cross section as well as efficient reactive oxygen species generation, enabling it to achieve photosensitization both in vitro and in vivo under two‐photon excitation. Moreover, its capability of stereotactic ablation of targeted cells with high‐precision is also successfully demonstrated. All these merits make DPASP a promising TP‐PDT candidate for accurate ablation of abnormal tissues with minimal damages to surrounding areas in the treatment of various diseases. A smart and facile AIE photosensitizer with unique features for two‐photon photodynamic therapy (TP‐PDT) is presented. The photosensitizer exhibits robust two‐photon absorption, high affinity to mitochondria, efficient reactive oxygen species generation, and negligible dark cytotoxicity, which endow it outstanding multidimensional treatment precision in TP‐PDT, achieving precisely stereotactic ablation for even a few specified cells.