NANOAGGREGATES OF PORPHYRINS WITH CHARGED GROUPS AND THEIR ANALOGUES IN WATER AND AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS OF MICELLAR AND POLYMER CARRIERS

Aggregation is usually the negative factor that significantly reduces the bioavailability of photosensitizers (PS) used as drugs in photodynamic therapy (PDT) of superficial tumors and antibiotic-resistant infections. Aggregated forms of PS are not only characterized by the low quantum yield of reactive oxygen species (ROS) necessary for the realization of PDT, but can also lead to problems with the patency of small blood vessels. In this paper we study the conditions of formation and size analysis of aggregated forms of a number of potential PSs of the porphyrin, chlorin, phthalocyanine and corrole series, bearing ionic substituents, in water as well as in aqueous solutions of the nonionic surfactant Tween 80 and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) using electron spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering (DLS) methods. It has been shown that all the PSs studied, depending on their hydrophilicity, can form subnano- or nanoaggregates in the concentration range of 10-3 – 10-6 mol/kg. The formation of associated/aggregated forms of macroheterocycles (MHC), especially of the chlorin and phthalocyanine types, is reliably differentiated by UV-Vis spectroscopy which, however, unlike DLS, does not allow one to distinguish between the formation of subnano- and nanoparticles in solution. It has been established that the tendency of cationic chlorin photosensitizers to nanoaggregation decreases with the accumulation of charged groups in the molecule, and an increase in the concentration of PS in an aqueous solution in all the cases studied leads to a broadening of the aggregate size distribution profile and the decrease in the mode intensity. The negative impact of PS aggregation on the efficiency of PDT can be avoided by using biocompatible solubilizing additives of micellar or polymeric passive delivery vehicles. It has been shown that the efficiency of disaggregation of PSs in the presence of surfactants is determined by the degree of hydrophilicity of the drug molecules. For citation: Berezin D.B., Bondareva T.V., Shukhto O.V., Kustova T.V., Razgovorov P.B., Kustov A.V. Nanoaggregates of porphyrins with charged groups and their analogues in water and aqueous solutions of micellar and polymer carriers. ChemChemTech [Izv. Vyssh. Uchebn. Zaved. Khim. Khim. Tekhnol.]. 2025. V. 68. N 6. P. 70-82. DOI: 10.6060/ivkkt.20256806.7166.