Journal of the American Chemical Society (2026). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c19057"> Credit: Journal of the American Chemical Society (2026). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c19057 A research team led by Professor Jin Yong Lee from the Department of Chemistry of Sungkyunkwan University, with co-first author HyoungChul Ham, and in collaboration with research teams from Korea University and the National University of Singapore, has developed a next-generation phototherapeutic agent, "NDI-COE." This agent induces pyroptosis (inflammatory cell death) in hypoxic tumor tissues by directly oxidizing intracellular water. The oligoelectrolyte was designed to overcome the oxygen-dependency limits of conventional photodynamic therapy by intercalating into the cell membrane to oxidize water. The research is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society . Notably, Professor Lee's team elucidated the superior photochemical mechanism of NDI-COE at the molecular level based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations.…