Enhanced Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species Using Gold Nanoparticles Conjugated With Protoporphyrin IX

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a vital trigger for photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer. We report the production of elevated ROS using gold nanoparticles (GNP) (20–100 nm in diameter) conjugated with Protophorphyrin IX (PpIX). The amount of ROS formation increases with the size of the GNP due to enhanced electromagnetic field resulting from localized surface plasmonic resonance.