Photoacidolysis-Mediated Iridium(III) Complex for Photoactive Antibacterial Therapy

Photoactive antibacterial therapy is one of the novel therapeutic methods that has great application potential and prospects for curbing bacterial infections. In this work, a photoactivated iridium complex (Ir–Cl) is synthesized for photoactive antibacterial research. Ir–Cl exhibits photoacidolysis, which can generate H+ and be converted into a photolysis product Ir–OH under blue light irradiation. At the meantime, this process is accompanied by 1O2 generation. Notably, Ir–Cl can selectively permeate S. aureus and exhibit excellent photoactive antibacterial activity. Mechanism studies show that Ir–Cl can ablate bacterial membranes and biofilms under light irradiation. Metabolomics analysis proves that Ir–Cl with light exposure mainly disturbs some amino acids’ degradation (e.g., valine, leucine, isoleucine, arginine) and pyrimidine metabolism, which indirectly causes the ablation of biofilms and ultimately produces irreversible damage to S. aureus. This work provides guidance for metal complexes in antibacterial application.