Síntesis a gran escala de puntos cuánticos de carbono derivados del ácido gálico como eficientes materiales...

In the process of treating bacterial infections, the excessive use of antibiotics can easily lead to the development of antibiotic resistance, which results in serious public health problems. In this context, lightmediated antibacterial strategies have attracted considerable attention due to their rapid bactericidal effects and low likelihood of inducing resistance.Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are primarily composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and are highly suitable as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy due to their low toxicity and good biocompatibility. In this work, we used gallic acid as a precursor and employs a microwave confined heating strategy to achieve large-scale preparation of high-quality nitrogen-doped CQDs (GA-CQDs) within 5 min (6 g per batch). System analysis indicates that the GA-CQDs exhibit a uniform particle size distribution, stable energy level structure, and excellent photostability. It is noteworthy that low-concentration GA-CQDs can efficiently generate reactive oxygen species under the illumination of white light LEDs, thereby exhibiting excellent photodynamic antibacterial effects against Streptococcus mutans, which are significantly higher than using gallic acid alone. In summary, this work presents a simple method for converting antibiotics into CQDs, endowing them with broader application prospects in the field of antimicrobial agents.