Photoactivated Ruthenium-Manganese Dinuclear Complex for Tracking and Two-Pronged Antibacterial Therapy Combining CO Delivery and Photodynamic Treatment

Bacterial infections pose a significant threat to human health with traditional antibiotic therapies increasingly failing to achieve desirable efficacy. Consequently, the development of therapeutic strategies has become a research focus, with multimodal synergistic antibacterial approaches receiving increasing attention due to their marked advantages. Herein, we present a ruthenium-manganese dinuclear complex, Ru(mfibpy)Mn, which enables visible light-triggered cogeneration of carbon monoxide (CO) and singlet oxygen (¹O₂) with the self-reporting monitoring capability. Spectroscopic studies reveal that upon λmax = 410 nm irradiation, the antibacterial reagent precisely induces the release of CO by Mn-CO bond cleavage and ¹O₂ produced by the Ru(II)-complex moiety while restoring intrinsic MLCT luminescence, which facilitates real-time tracking of the generation process through the turn-on luminescence of the Ru(II)-complex. In vitro experiments demonstrate that the synergistic antibacterial effect significantly enhances efficacy compared to monofunctional systems, achieving complete eradication of both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria at concentrations as low as 1 μM under 10 min of light exposure and effectively disrupting drug-resistant bacterial biofilms. Furthermore, in vivo studies in a murine-infected wound model confirm its potent therapeutic efficacy. This work successfully developed a multifunctional molecular tool based on transition metal complexes with both antibacterial and tissue-regenerative capabilities, offering an insight for development of antibacterial reagents and bacterial infection treatment.