Visible light-responsive micelles enable co-delivery of nitric oxide and antibiotics for synergistic antibiofilm applications

The development of new photoresponsive polymers has received increasing interest due to their great potential in many fields such as photoresists, smart actuators, intelligent adhesives, and nanomedicines. Herein, we design a new photoresponsive monomer based on N-nitrosoamine moieties bearing a tetraphenylethylene (TPE) antenna. This photoresponsive monomer can be directly polymerized through reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization with the formation of NO-releasing amphiphiles. Self-assembly of these amphiphiles results in the formation of micellar nanoparticles, exhibiting controlled NO release under visible light irradiation by taking advantage of the TPE antenna moieties. Moreover, the NO release process is accompanied by an evident fluorescence turn-on of TPE moieties, enabling self-reporting NO release. The photoresponsive micellar nanoparticles enable the loading of hydrophobic antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin (Cip) into the micelle cores, and photo-mediated co-release of NO and Cip can thus be achieved, showing a synergistic antibiofilm capacity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This work sheds light on the fabrication of novel photoresponsive NO-releasing materials for potential biomedical applications.