Yao Zhang,* Yeyuhan Zhu,* Tian Deng, Yangge Du

State Key Laboratory of Oral & Maxillofacial Reconstruction and Regeneration, Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Stomatology, School & Hospital of Stomatology; Medical Research Institute, School of Medicine, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Tian Deng; Yangge Du, The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology(Hubei MOST) & Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine Ministry of Education School & Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, People’s Republic of China, Email dengtian@whu.edu.cn; duyangge@whu.edu.cn

Abstract: As popular materials, organic room-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials have been studied and developed in many fields. RTP materials have the characteristics of a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and high reactive oxygen species (ROS) quantum yield, which can achieve clear bioimaging and efficient ability of anti-tumor and antibacterial, and have received extensive attention from researchers for imaging, tumor therapy, and antibacterial treatment. Moreover, owing to their flexible molecular structures and various synthesis systems and methods, it may be possible to design and synthesize materials according to individual physiologic environments of patients in medical applications, making bioimaging more accurate and greatly improving tumor and bacterial killing rates. So they have great development potential in the medical field. On the basis of introducing the mechanism of RTP materials that emit phosphorescence and generate ROS, this review summarizes the medical applications of RTP materials from three aspects—bioimaging, tumor treatment and antibacterial treatment—to provide a basis for their application in the field of stomatology.

Keywords: RTP materials, bioimaging, anti-tumor, antibacterial, ROS