In vitro study demonstrates potent photodynamic bacterial inactivation by a BOQUIPHY-fullerene dyad in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, highlighting heavy-atom-free photosensitizers.
An asymmetric BOQUIPHY-fullerene C60 dyad (BQP-C60) was synthesized to explore polarized di-BF2 chromophores as donor platforms for photodynamic applications. The BOQUIPHY scaffold, featuring mixed N–B–N and N–B–O chelation motifs, acts as a visible-light antenna, while C60 functions as an electron/energy acceptor and spin converter. Spectroscopic studies showed that covalent attachment promotes efficient intramolecular energy transfer from BOQUIPHY to C60. Electrochemical analysis reveals successive fullerene reductions alongside a BOQUIPHY-based oxidation, defining a donor–acceptor redox alignment that enables thermodynamically favorable photoinduced charge separation. Visible spectroelectrochemistry further supports electronic communication between donor and acceptor fragments. BQP-C60 showed higher apparent photodynamic activity under green-light irradiation, with a DMA photooxidation rate constant of 3.86 × 10–3 s–1, exceeding those of its individual counterparts. This improved apparent activity was driven by the greater absorbed-photon flux of the dyad, highlighting the antenna effect of the BOQUIPHY unit. Accordingly, BQP-C60 caused the fastest bacterial inactivation and completely suppressed recovery of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus in planktonic cultures. These results establish donor–acceptor engineering of asymmetric di-BF2 frameworks as a strategy for developing heavy-atom-free photosensitizers with applications in antimicrobial photodynamic therapy.
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López et al. (2026) studied this question.
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