Acceptor Regulation of Acceptor–Donor–Acceptor Type Conjugated Oligomer for Photothermal Combating of Resistant Bacteria

Extensive efforts have been devoted to the development of photothermal agents (PTAs) to make photothermal therapy (PTT) flourish. Herein, we report three conjugated oligomer PTAs (BTP-2ThCl, BTP-2F-ThCl, and BTP-4F) with acceptor–donor–acceptor (A–D–A) structures to verify that connecting the stronger electron-absorbing acceptor groups is favored to amplify their optical properties. The optimal BTP-4F nanoparticles exhibited a photothermal conversion efficiency as high as 83% and antibacterial activity of over 99.9% against Escherichia coli with ampicillin resistance (Ampr E. coli). The design strategy of structure regulation at the molecular level opens an avenue for application of high-performance PTAs in PTT.