New Degradable Semiconducting Polymers for Photoacoustic Imaging of λ-Carrageenan-Induced Arthritis Mouse Model
Lijun Ma, Yajie Cai, Shuo Li, Jiguang Li, Peiyu Chen, Grigory V. Zyryanov, Dmitry S. Kopchuk, Igor S. Kovalev, and Zhuo Wang*
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Chemistry, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
Anal. Chem. 2022, XXXX, XXX, XXX-XXX
Publication Date: October 8, 2022
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c02906

Abstract
Semiconducting polymer has a high extinction coefficient and a long band absorption and can be used as a photoacoustic imaging contrast agent. However, nonbiodegradable semiconducting polymers may cause biosafety issues due to being retained in the body. Therefore, developing degradable semiconducting polymers is necessary for in vivo imaging. Herein, we developed three degradable semiconducting polymers with unique optical properties. We adjusted the optical properties of semiconducting polymers by designing the molecular structure of semiconducting polymers. Polymers with a donor−π–acceptor structure could easily improve the optical properties through adjusting the donor or acceptor units. Through adjusting the electron-donor and -acceptor units, three diketopyrrolopyrrole derivative polymers (DPPTz, DPPQu, and DPPWu) were synthesized and converted into nanosize particles. By introducing the degradable chemical groups in the main chain structure of semiconducting polymers, diketopyrrolopyrrole polymers could be degraded by ClO–. Among these nanosize particles, DPPTz NPs and DPPQu NPs were used to achieve the in vivo photoacoustic imaging of λ-carrageenan-induced arthritis mouse model. This work provides a novel design idea for the designing of red-shifted semiconducting polymer with degradable properties.
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