Issue 8, 2024

Recent advances in combatting bacterial infections via well-designed metallacycles/metallacages

Abstract

Bacterial infections can lead to the development of large-scale outbreaks of diseases that pose a serious threat to human life and health. Also, conventional antibiotics are prone to producing resistance and allergic reactions, and their therapeutic effect is dramatically diminished when bacterial communities form biofilms. Fortunately, well-designed supramolecular coordination complexes (SCCs) have been used as antibacterials or anti-biofilms in recent years. SCCs can kill bacteria by directly engaging with the bacterial surface through electrostatic interactions or by penetrating the bacterial membrane through the auxiliary effect of cell-penetrating peptides. Furthermore, scientists have engineered fluorescent SCCs that can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) to eliminate bacteria when exposed to laser irradiation, and they also demonstrate outstanding performance in in vivo imaging, enabling integrated diagnosis and treatment. In this review, we summarize the design strategy and applications of SCCs in antibacterials or anti-biofilms and provide an outlook on future research.

Graphical abstract: Recent advances in combatting bacterial infections via well-designed metallacycles/metallacages

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
26 Nov. 2023
Accepted
24 Dec. 2023
First published
29 Dec. 2023

Dalton Trans., 2024,53, 3434-3444

Recent advances in combatting bacterial infections via well-designed metallacycles/metallacages

Q. Li, H. Ye, F. Zhao, Y. Li, Z. Zhang, Q. Yan and Y. Sun, Dalton Trans., 2024, 53, 3434 DOI: 10.1039/D3DT03966H

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