Phosphorescent Light-emitting lridium Complexes Serve as a Hypoxia-sensing Probe for Tumor Imaging in Living Animals.

铱配合物是一种很有前途的用于下一代视频显示的有机发光二极管材料，它能发出被氧猝灭的磷光。我们将这种氧猝灭特征用于肿瘤缺氧成像。我们用发红光的Ir（btp）_2（acac）（BTP）对裸鼠移植瘤进行了显像，并成功地对肿瘤进行了显像。由于BTP很容易修饰，我们合成了具有较长激发/发射波长的BTP类似物。其中之一，BTPHSA，描绘了从皮肤表面移植6-7 mm深的肿瘤的清晰成像。另一种类似物BTPDM在肿瘤中比BTP更亮，因为BTPDM具有容易进入和到达细胞的特性。我们认为，铱配合物材料有一个巨大的潜力，如肿瘤组织缺氧病变成像。

Iridium complex is a promising organic light-emitting diode material for next generation video displays that emits phosphorescence quenched by oxygen. We focused this oxygen-quenching feature for imaging tumor hypoxia. We used Red light-emitting Ir(btp)_2(acac) (BTP)to image nude mouse-transplanted tumors, and succeed to image tumors. Since BTP is easily modifiable, we synthesized BTP analogues with a longer excitation/emission wavelength. One of them, BTPHSA, depicted clear imaging from tumors transplanted 6-7 mm deep from the skin surface. Another analogue, BTPDM, shines brighter than BTP in tumors, since BTPDM has character to access easily and reach in cells. We suggest that iridium complex materials have a vast potential for imaging hypoxic lesions such as tumor tissues.