Water-soluble conjugated molecular materials toward biomedical translational applications

Water-soluble conjugated molecular materials (WSCMs) have exhibited hierarchical light harvesting, energy transfer, photosensitization, and photoconversion capabilities, thus achieving remarkable breakthroughs in disease-related biosensing, biotheranostics, and biophotoconversion. In contrast to the basic investigations, rare efforts have been devoted to truly realizing their biomedical translational applications toward industrialization. This review concisely summarizes the state-of-the-art applications of WSCMs in clinical gene detection, disease theranostics, and green biosynthesis of high-value chemicals. Furthermore, challenges and development directions of WSCMs toward biomedical translations in precise diagnosis kits, in vivo theranostics, and large-scale photobiocatalysis are discussed, clearly mapping future industrialization trajectories for personalized medicine, veterinary drugs, and industrial bio-related fermentation.