A Spectral Comparison Study of PDT Drugs - ALA and ALA-Hexyl ester

5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) has been used to stimulate endogenous protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) in tumor and then initiate PDT. Recently, ALA-Hexyl ester (He-ALA) was found much effective than ALA on producing PpIX in cancer cells. To clarify the transportation mechanism of ALA and He-ALA, the detection of them is the important step. ALA and its derivatives all don't emit fluorescence, so the Raman spectroscopy was used here for the direct detection of ALA and He-ALA. The results showed that ALA and He-ALA have the common strong Raman peaks at 2930, 2950 CM$\^$-1/, due to the CH$_2$ vibration. The peak 3050 CM$\^$-1/ appeared in ALA spectrum can be attributed to OH vibration, while the peaks of 2860, 2900 CM$\^$-1/ in He-ALA spectrum were assigned as the modes of CH$_3$. This Raman spectral characteristic is consistence with the structure difference of He-ALA and ALA. Thus, Raman spectroscopy provides a new way to detect and distinguish ALA and He-ALA, and could be explored further in biology system.