Bacteria-targeted imaging using vancomycin-based positron emission tomography tracers can distinguish infection from sterile inflammation.

Introduction: Bacterial infections pose major challenges in medicine. To guide effective infection treatment, faster and more accurate diagnostic modalities are needed. Bacteria-targeted molecular imaging can meet these needs.

Coupling Rotary Motion to Helicene Inversion within a Molecular Motor.

Towards complex coupled molecular motions, the remote handedness inversion of a helicene moiety was achieved by a rotary molecular motor. The use of a specifically engineered dynamic helicene stator in a novel overcrowded-alkene second-generation molecular motor based on a fluorinated dibenzofluorene fragment allows for an unprecedented control over helicity inversion. This is achieved by the mechanical coupling of the rotation of the rotor to the helicene inversion of the stator half via a remote chirality transmission process.

Light, Switch, Action! The Influence of Geometrical Photoisomerization in an Adaptive Self-Assembled System.

The ubiquitous ability of natural dynamic nanostructures to adapt to environmental changes is a highly desirable property for chemical systems, particularly in the development of complex matter, molecular machines, and life-like materials. Designing such systems is challenging due to the generation of complex mixtures with responses that are difficult to predict, characterize, and diversify. Here, we navigate between self-assembled architectures using light by operating an intrinsic photoswitchable building block that governs the state of the system.

Photoreceptor-Like Signal Transduction Between Polymer-Based Protocells.

Deciphering inter- and intracellular signaling pathways is pivotal for understanding the intricate communication networks that orchestrate life's dynamics. Communication models involving bottom-up construction of protocells are emerging but often lack specialized compartments sufficiently robust and hierarchically organized to perform spatiotemporally defined signaling. Here, the modular construction of communicating polymer-based protocells designed to mimic the transduction of information in retinal photoreceptors is presented.

Mix and Match Tuning of the Conformational and Multistate Redox Switching Properties of an Overcrowded Alkene.

Overcrowded alkenes have received considerable attention as versatile structural motifs in a range of optical switches and light-driven unidirectional motors. In contrast, their actuation by electrochemical stimuli remains underexplored, even though this alternative energy input may be preferred in various applications and enables additional control over molecular switching states and properties. While symmetric bistricyclic overcrowded enes (BAEs) containing two identical halves based on either thioxanthene (TX) or acridine (Acr) motifs are known to be reversible conformational redox switches, their redox potentials are generally too high or low, respectively, thereby preventing wider applications.