Recent Advances in Metal-Free Supramolecular for Biomedical Applications

Precision medicine requires highly accurate diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to enable personalized healthcare. Although small molecule dyes are widely used in biomedical imaging and surgical navigation, their application is restricted by complex synthesis, limited tunability of photophysical properties, poor photostability, and aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ). Supramolecular dyes constructed from small-molecule chromophores through self-assembly offer an effective solution by forming ordered architectures with tunable optical properties, enhanced photodynamic and photothermal performance, and improved stability and antiquenching capability. These features make supramolecular dyes promising candidates for precision medicine. Conventional metal-containing supramolecular systems typically rely on high-atomic-number metal centers, whose in vivo behavior and metabolic pathways can be relatively complex, necessitating rational design to optimize their biocompatibility and metabolic properties. Moreover, systematic reviews focusing on metal-free supramolecular dyes for precision medicine remain scarce. This review summarizes recent advances in supramolecular dyes based on metal-free supramolecular systems for biomedical imaging and therapy. Furthermore, current challenges and future perspectives are discussed, aiming to promote the translation of supramolecular dyes from fundamental research toward clinical applications.