Sulphur-atom positional engineering in perylenimide: structure-property relationships and H-aggregation directed type-I photodynamic therapy.

An innovative design strategy of placing sulfur (S)-atoms within the pendant functional groups and at carbonyl positions in conventional perylenimide (PNI-O) has been demonstrated to investigate the condensed state structure-property relationship and potential photodynamic therapy (PDT) application. Incorporation of simply S-atoms at the peri -functionalized perylenimide (RPNI-O) leads to an aggregation-induced enhanced emission luminogen (AIEEgen), 2-hexyl-8-(thianthren-1-yl)-1 H -benzo[5,10]anthra[2,1,9-def]isoquinoline-1,3(2 H )-dione (API), which achieves a remarkable photoluminescence quantum yield ( Φ PL ) of 0.85 in aqueous environments and established novel AIE mechanisms. Additionally, substitution of the S-atom at the carbonyl position in RPNI-O leads to thioperylenimides (RPNI-S): 2-hexyl-8-phenyl-1 H -benzo[5,10]anthra[2,1,9-def]isoquinoline-1,3(2 H )-dithione (PPIS), 8-([2,2'-bithiophen]-5-yl)-2-hexyl-1 H -benzo[5,10]anthra[2,1,9-def]isoquinoline-1,3(2 H )-dithione (THPIS), and 2-hexyl-8-(thianthren-1-yl)-1 H -benzo[5,10]anthra[2,1,9-def]isoquinoline-1,3(2 H )-dithion (APIS), with distinct photophysical properties (enlarged spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and Φ PL ≈ 0.00), and developed diverse potent photosensitizers (PSs). The present work provides a novel SOC enhancement mechanism via pronounced H-aggregation. Surprisingly, the lowest singlet oxygen quantum yield ( Φ Δ ) and theoretical calculation suggest the specific type-I PDT for RPNI-S. Interestingly, RPNI-S efficiently produces superoxide (O 2 ˙ - ) due to its remarkably lower Gibbs free energy (Δ G ) values (THPIS: -40.83 kcal mol -1 ). The non-toxic and heavy-atom free very specific thio-based PPIS and THPIS PSs showed selective and efficient PDT under normoxia, as a rare example.