Near-infrared upper phenyl-fused BODIPY as a photosensitizer for photothermal-photodynamic therapy.

The introduction of a ring-fused segment into a BODIPY scaffold promoted a spectral bathochromic-shift and enhanced the intersystem crossing capability by a twisted structure. In this work, we designed and synthesized an upper ring-fused BODIPY with 4-dimethylaminostyryl groups (BBDP), which had excellent optical performance for photothermal-photodynamic therapy.