Increasing materials' response to two-photon NIR light via self-immolative dendritic scaffolds

Photoactivation using two photons of NIR allows non-invasive biological manipulation. We applied the principle of dendritic amplification to improve the materials' sensitivity to NIR light. Light induced uncaging or release of L-glutamic acid was 2.8 fold higher when incorporating 4-bromo-7-hydroxycoumarin (Bhc) with self-immolative dendrimers compared with Bhc directly conjugated to L-glutamic acid.