Water‐Soluble Doubly‐Strapped Isolated Perylene Diimide Chromophore
Fei Yang, Ran Li, Wei Wei, Xingwei Ding, Zhenzhen Xu, Ping Wang, Guo Wang, Yanqing Xu, Hongbing Fu, Yanli Zhao
Abstract
Abstract Perylene diimides (PDIs), a well‐studied class of organic dyes, have a strong tendency to self‐aggregate in water, thus greatly restricting their phototheranostic applications. Herein, we report a water‐soluble PDI cyclophane “Gemini Box” ( GBox‐1 4+ ), consisting of a central PDI chromophore enclosed by double‐sided cationic molecular straps. Owing to the effective spatial isolation, the chromophore self‐aggregation can be completely eliminated, even in a concentrated aqueous solution up to 2 mM. To our knowledge, GBox‐1 4+ represents an interesting example of a fluorescent PDI cyclophane in water, capable of being employed for lysosome‐targetable live‐cell imaging. More importantly, the highly concentrated aqueous solution of PDI radical anion can be significantly stabilized by GBox‐1 4+ to exhibit an excellent near‐infrared photothermal effect, which was further exploited for efficient and selective antibacterial applications. This work provides a new access to water‐soluble non‐aggregated organic dyes and promotes their potential biomedical applications.