Antibacterial Photodynamic Therapy of the Metallosurfactant–Fluorescein Conjugate under Visible Light Illumination

Antibacterial photodynamic therapy (APDT) has received increased attention as a treatment for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections caused by antibiotic abuse. However, photosensitizers used in APDT have disadvantages such as water insolubility, self-aggregation, and photobleaching. To address these limitations, metal complexes have been explored. However, the use of such complexes tends to confine their antibacterial effectiveness specific bacterial strains. In this study, we report iron (Fe)- and copper (Cu)-based metallosurfactants as unique moieties for antibacterial photodynamic therapy (PDT) under the illumination of visible light. Briefly, our formulated Fe and Cu metallosurfactants, when combined with a fluorescein photosensitizer, exhibit nearly 100% antibacterial efficacy. This high efficiency is primarily attributed to the enhanced generation of singlet oxygen using FL in the presence of metallosurfactants when targeting bacteria such as