Fluorine Grafted Cu7S4--Au Heterodimers for Multimodal Imaging Guided Photothermal Therapy with High Penetration Depth.

We report the multifunctional nanocomposites (NCs) consisting of 19F-moieties grafted Cu7S4--Au nanoparticles (NPs) for negligible background 19Fmagnetic resonance imaging (19F-MRI) and computed tomography (CT) imaging guided photothermal therapy. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) absorption can be reasonably tuned to the in vivo transparent window (800-900 nm) by coupling Au (<10 nm, LSPR ~530 nm) with Cu7S4 (<15 nm, LSPR ~1500 nm) into Cu7S4--Au heterodimers. The in vivo photothermal tests show that Cu7S4--Au show deeper light penetration with 808 nm irradiation, better photothermal efficacy, and less damage to normal tissues than Cu7S4 with 1500 nm irradiation. Moreover, compared to traditional ¹H-MRI, the 19F-MRI based on these NCs demonstrates much better sensitivity due to the negligible background. This work offers a promising strategy for multimodal imaging guided photothermal therapy of deep tissue with good efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]