Molecular Design of Conjugated Small Molecule Nanoparticles for Synergistically Enhanced PTT/PDT

Highlights A donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) conjugated small molecule IID-ThTPA with narrow singlet–triplet energy gap is synthesized via acceptor-oriented molecular design. IID-ThTPA nanoparticles exhibit not only competitive photothermal conversion efficiency (35.4%), but also a dramatically high singlet oxygen quantum yield (84.0%). IID-ThTPA nanoparticles enable superior cooperative tumor PTT/PDT eradicating capability both in vitro and in vivo.