Conjugated polymers for light-activated antifungal activity.

A cationic polythiophene-porphyrin (PTP) dyad is shown to exhibit efficient light-activated antifungal activity. Higher singlet oxygen (¹O2) generation efficiency can be attained from PTP upon photoexcitation due to the light-harvesting properties of the polymer backbone and efficient energy transfer from the polythiophene to the porphyrin units. PTP can be used for treating fungal infections in lower doses of irradiation light and polymer concentration.