AIE-Active Antibacterial Photosensitizer Disrupting Bacterial Structure: Multicenter Validation against Drug-Resistant Pathogens.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a global challenge in treating bacterial infections, creating an urgent need for broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents that can effectively combat multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. Despite advancements in novel antimicrobial agents, many fail to comprehensively cover common resistant bacterial strains or undergo rigorous multi-center validation. Herein, a cationic AIE-active photosensitizers are developed, ITPM, derived from a triphenylamine-pyridine backbone to address the MDR challenge. Rigorous validation demonstrates that ITPM possesses superior fluorescence imaging capabilities and exceptional antibacterial efficacy. And its broad-spectrum activity is verified through a multi-center study involving six clinically relevant MDR strains. Additionally, resistance development studies and comparisons with advanced clinical antibiotics reveal that ITPM exhibits potent, broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity with minimal resistance development. This efficacy is attributed to its unique antibacterial mechanism involving disrupting bacterial internal structures. These findings establish ITPM as a promising candidate for broad-spectrum antimicrobial therapy, offering a potential solution to the growing crisis of AMR in clinical settings.