Synergistic Integration of Nanomaterials with Functional Molecules

Abstract

Nanomaterials have attracted considerable attention owing to their unique physicochemical and optical properties and have been actively explored for a wide range of biological and biomedical applications. In particular, optical nanomaterials, including plasmonic nanoparticles, quantum dots, and upconversion nanoparticles, have enabled highly sensitive detection, imaging, and manipulation of biological systems. Recent advances in nanostructure engineering have further improved their performance and expanded their applicability to increasingly complex biological environments. Beyond nanomaterial engineering, the integration of functional molecular systems has become an important strategy for extending the capabilities of nanomaterials. The integration of chemical biology tools such as aptamers, photocaged compounds, photoswitches, and photocrosslinkers can endow nanomaterials with target recognition, molecular responsiveness, catalytic activity and stimulus-triggered regulation, thereby opening new opportunities for selective sensing and spatiotemporally controlled biomolecular manipulation. This review highlights recent progress in optical nanomaterials and functional molecular systems for biological applications, with particular emphasis on plasmonic nanoparticles, plasmonic nanowire-based single live-cell interrogation, and photoresponsive molecular tools. We discuss how the integration of nanomaterial engineering and molecular design is transforming nanomaterials from passive sensing substrates into multifunctional platforms capable of both observing and controlling biological processes.