Volume 64, Issue 24 e202505069
Research Article

An Immediate Bacterial-Responsive Supramolecular Thio-Naphthalene Diimide: A Real-Time NIR-II Photothermal Anti-Bacterial

He Ma

Corresponding Author

He Ma

Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

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Yushen Kang

Yushen Kang

Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China

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Weiquan Xu

Weiquan Xu

Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China

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Yuanchen Shen

Yuanchen Shen

Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China

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Huacheng Yu

Huacheng Yu

Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China

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Hao Hu

Hao Hu

Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China

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Xingchen Tang

Xingchen Tang

Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China

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Jiang-Fei Xu

Jiang-Fei Xu

Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China

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Xi Zhang

Corresponding Author

Xi Zhang

Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

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First published: 07 April 2025

Graphical Abstract

A supramolecular thio-naphthalene diimide can be immediately reduced to a supramolecular radical anion by bacteria, leading to a NIR-II absorption. This strategy effectively raises the reduction potential, thereby greatly boosting the reduction speed. This approach has been used as a real-time NIR-II photothermal anti-bacterial and opens new horizons for bio-responsive agents.

Abstract

A new kind of supramolecular thio-naphthalene diimide (SNDI) which can be immediately reduced as supramolecular radical anion by bacteria is reported. The introduction of thiocarbonyl effectively elevates the reduction potential of SNDI, largely increasing the bacteria-response speed in hypoxia. It selectively distinguishes the bacteria with high and low reduction ability in real time. The host–guest complexation of SNDI and cucurbit[7]uril can enhance radical anion quantum yield, ensuring intense NIR-II absorption and realizing high photothermal conversion. The real-time NIR-II photothermal anti-bacteria is successfully carried out. This development will enrich the design of bio-responsive agent with promising future towards actual application.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The crystallographic data are available from the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre under CCDC-2407931. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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