Fig. 7. Structures of metal photosensitizers reported to have antibacterial activity.
Various metals and ligand assemblies have the potential to be used as antibacterial photodynamic therapy agents. In general, aromatic conjugated ligands are used to fine-tune the photophysical properties of the resulting metal complex. Examples containing the metals ruthenium (PS-Ru1, ref. 234; PS-Ru2, ref. 300), iridium (PS-Ir1, ref. 235), platinum (PS-Pt1, refs. 238,239), copper (PS-Cu1, ref. 240) and rhenium (PS-Re1, ref. 188) have been reported. PS, photosensitizer; Ph, phenyl.