An Activatable Photosensitizer for Discriminative Imaging and Elimination of Gram-positive Bacteria

Photosensitizers with precise targeting and potent efficacy to infectious bacteria are highly demanded to tackle the threat of drug resistant bacteria. Herein an antibacterial agent DPBO with activatable emission, effective 1O2 generation and bacterial selectivity was prepared. DPBO is able to selectively light up and synergistically kill Gram-positive bacteria including drug-resistant strains with a concentration as low as 0.25 mu M in vitro and accelerate the healing rate of S. aureus infected wound in vivo. This study results provide a promising antibacterial candidate for developing new antibacterial materials.