Shining a Light on Bioorthogonal Photochemistry for Polymer Science

Bioorthogonal chemistry is revolutionizing the fields of biological chemistry and nanomedicine, providing tools to actively probe and perturb native biochemical processes. Photochemistry provides the opportunity to actively and non-invasively control bioorthogonal reactions, providing sophisticated optochemical tools. Despite the opportunities in bioorthogonal photochemistry, there remain many significant challenges to the clinical translation of current research. This review aims to provide an overview of these challenges and highlight recent examples from the literature that are providing revolutionary solutions to overcoming these barriers. It will highlight new photochemical systems that can be triggered by near infrared light in aqueous solutions and have been demonstrated to function in complex biological systems, including in living animals. It will cover diverse classes of photochemical reactions including photopolymerization, uncaging, conjugation, and photoswitching. The discussion will detail how new approaches are being integrated into polymers or highlight unexploited opportunities. This review intends to showcase how the unique synergy of bioorthogonal photochemistry and polymer science provides vast opportunities in the fields of biomaterials, nanomedicine, and theranostics. This will hopefully provide inspiration to material scientists to integrate bioorthogonal photochemistry into new adaptable materials and ensure translation to solve clinical challenges.