NIR light-responsive gold coated shrinkable thermoresponsive nanoshells as preliminary step to ablate large and deep-seated tumors using combined chemo-photothermal therapy.

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Two structurally unique aggregation induced emission (AIE)‐active luminogens have been designed and synthesized based on the furocarbazole skeleton. Such small molecule AIEgens were designed based on forbidden planarity and engineering a twist into the scaffold to realize induction of emission in the aggregated states. The structures were fully characterized and their thermal stabilities, electronic properties, photophysical and electrochemical properties were systematically investigated. The unique twist in the molecules as evident from their X‐ray crystal structure along with the short intermolecular interactions enhances the structural rigidification and restricts detrimental π–π stacking interactions, restricting the internal rotations (RIR) accompanied by a curb of the ICT process, resulting in enhanced emission in the aggregated state. This intriguing luminescent property enabled one of the luminogens to selectively detect trinitrophenol (TNP) over other nitroaromatics in both aqueous and organic media at nanomolar concentrations. Moreover, the good photostabilities and biocompatibilities empowered both luminogens to function as fluorescent bioprobes for cancer cell imaging.

Integrating the concept of biodegradation and light-triggered localized therapy in a functional nanoformulation is the current approach in onco-nanomedicine. Morphology control with an enhanced photothermal response, minimal toxicity, and X-ray attenuation of polymer-based nanoparticles is a critical concern for image-guided photothermal therapy. Herein, we describe the simple design of cost-effective and degradable polycaprolactone-based plasmonic nanoshells for the integrated photothermolysis as well as localized imaging of cancer cells. The gold-deposited polycaprolactonebased plasmonic nanoshells (AuPCL NS) are synthesized in a scalable and facile way under ambient conditions. The synthesized nanoshells are monodisperse, fairly stable, and highly inert even at five times (250 μg/ mL) the therapeutic concentration in a week-long test. AuPCL NS are capable of delivering standalone photothermal therapy for the complete ablation of cancer cells without using any anticancerous drugs and causing toxicity. It delivers the same therapeutic efficacy to different cancer cell lines, irrespective of their chemorefractory status and also works as a potential computed tomography contrast agent for the integrated imaging-directed photothermal cancer therapy. High biocompatibility, degradability, and promising photothermal efficacy of AuPCL NS are attractive aspects of this report that could open new horizons of localized plasmonic photothermal therapy for healthcare applications.

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