Titelbild: Highly Twisted Conformation Thiopyrylium Photosensitizers for In Vivo Near Infrared‐II Imaging and Rapid Inactivation of Coronavirus (Angew. Chem. 13/2023)

The resulting NIR-II PS not only enables NIR-II image-guided in vivo pulmonary coronavirus photo-ablation but also demonstrates a facile approach for the development of NIR heavy-atom-free PSs. Keywords: Coronavirus Inactivation;Intersystem Crossing;NIR-II Imaging;Photosensitizer;Triplet State EN Coronavirus Inactivation Intersystem Crossing NIR-II Imaging Photosensitizer Triplet State 1 1 1 03/15/23 20230320 NES 230320 B The relationship b between molecular configuration and charge transfer processes in near-infrared-II (NIR-II) chromophores was studied, and subsequently instructed the engineering of an efficient NIR photosensitizer (PS), as reported by Wenbo Hu, Yuliang Xiao et al. in their Research Article (e202214875). The resulting NIR-II PS not only enables NIR-II image-guided in vivo pulmonary coronavirus photo-ablation but also demonstrates a facile approach for the development of NIR heavy-atom-free PSs. [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Angewandte Chemie is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Cover Picture: Highly Twisted Conformation Thiopyrylium Photosensitizers for In Vivo Near Infrared‐II Imaging and Rapid Inactivation of Coronavirus (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 13/2023)

The resulting NIR-II PS not only enables NIR-II image-guided in vivo pulmonary coronavirus photo-ablation but also demonstrates a facile approach for the development of NIR heavy-atom-free PSs. Keywords: Coronavirus Inactivation;Intersystem Crossing;NIR-II Imaging;Photosensitizer;Triplet State EN Coronavirus Inactivation Intersystem Crossing NIR-II Imaging Photosensitizer Triplet State 1 1 1 03/15/23 20230320 NES 230320 B The relationship b between molecular configuration and charge transfer processes in near-infrared-II (NIR-II) chromophores was studied, and subsequently instructed the engineering of an efficient NIR photosensitizer (PS), as reported by Wenbo Hu, Yuliang Xiao et al. in their Research Article (e202214875). The resulting NIR-II PS not only enables NIR-II image-guided in vivo pulmonary coronavirus photo-ablation but also demonstrates a facile approach for the development of NIR heavy-atom-free PSs. [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Angewandte Chemie International Edition is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Highly Twisted Conformation Thiopyrylium Photosensitizers for In Vivo Near Infrared‐II Imaging and Rapid Inactivation of Coronavirus

Despite significant effort, a majority of heavy‐atom‐free photosensitizers have short excitation wavelengths, thereby hampering their biomedical applications. Here, we present a facile approach for developing efficient near‐infrared (NIR) heavy‐atom‐free photosensitizers. Based on a series of thiopyrylium‐based NIR‐II (1000–1700 nm) dyads, we found that the star dyad HD with a sterically bulky and electron‐rich moiety exhibited configuration torsion and significantly enhanced intersystem crossing (ISC) compared to the parent dyad. The electron excitation characteristics of HD changed from local excitation (LE) to charge transfer (CT)‐domain, contributing to a ≈6‐fold reduction in energy gap (ΔEST), a ≈10‐fold accelerated ISC process, and a ≈31.49‐fold elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) quantum yield. The optimized SP@HD‐PEG2K lung‐targeting dots enabled real‐time NIR‐II lung imaging, which precisely guided rapid pulmonary coronavirus inactivation.

Highly Twisted Conformation Thiopyrylium Photosensitizers for In Vivo Near Infrared-II Imaging and Rapid Inactivation of Coronavirus.

Despite significant effort, a majority of heavy-atom-free photosensitizers have short excitation wavelengths, thereby hampering their biomedical applications. Here, we present a facile approach for developing efficient near-infrared (NIR) heavy-atom-free photosensitizers. Based on a series of thiopyrylium-based NIR-II (1000-1700 nm) dyads, we found that the star dyad HD with a sterically bulky and electron-rich moiety exhibited configuration torsion and significantly enhanced intersystem crossing (ISC) compared to the parent dyad. The electron excitation characteristics of HD changed from local excitation (LE) to charge transfer (CT)-domain, contributing to a ≈6-fold reduction in energy gap (ΔEST ), a ≈10-fold accelerated ISC process, and a ≈31.49-fold elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) quantum yield. The optimized SP@HD-PEG2K lung-targeting dots enabled real-time NIR-II lung imaging, which precisely guided rapid pulmonary coronavirus inactivation.

Potential therapeutic effects of dipyridamole in the severely ill patients with COVID-19.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome, hypercoagulability, hypertension, and multiorgan dysfunction. Effective antivirals with safe clinical profile are urgently needed to improve the overall prognosis. In an analysis of a randomly collected cohort of 124 patients with COVID-19, we found that hypercoagulability as indicated by elevated concentrations of D-dimers was associated with disease severity. By virtual screening of a U.S. FDA approved drug library, we identified an anticoagulation agent dipyridamole (DIP) in silico, which suppressed SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro. In a proof-of-concept trial involving 31 patients with COVID-19, DIP supplementation was associated with significantly decreased concentrations of D-dimers (P < 0.05), increased lymphocyte and platelet recovery in the circulation, and markedly improved clinical outcomes in comparison to the control patients. In particular, all 8 of the DIP-treated severely ill patients showed remarkable improvement: 7 patients (87.5%) achieved clinical cure and were discharged from the hospitals while the remaining 1 patient (12.5%) was in clinical remission.