Poly(benzimidazolium-phenylthiophene) Featuring Flexible Cationic Backbone Enhanced Photosynthesis of <italic style="font-style: italic">Chlorella pyrenoidosa</italic>

Xiao-Long Xu; Jian-Tao Lin; Sheng-Peng Xia; Yan Zhao; Hao-Tian Bai; Yi-Ming Huang

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3562-4

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Poly(benzimidazolium-phenylthiophene) Featuring Flexible Cationic Backbone Enhanced Photosynthesis of Chlorella pyrenoidosa

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-03-26

- Poly(benzimidazolium-phenylthiophene) Featuring Flexible Cationic Backbone Enhanced Photosynthesis of Chlorella pyrenoidosa
- Poly(benzimidazolium-phenylthiophene) Featuring Flexible Cationic Backbone Enhanced Photosynthesis of Chlorella pyrenoidosa
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science 2026年44卷第4期页码：1059-1068
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  b.College of Chemistry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Author bio：
  
  baihaotian@iccas.ac.cn (H.T.B.)
  ymhuang@iccas.ac.cn (Y.M.H.)
- Funds：
  
  This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Nos. 2023YFC3404200, 2023YFC3404201, and 2023YFC3404202), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22575253), and the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. Z220025). We are grateful to Prof. Lidong Li (University of Science and Technology Beijing) and his group members for their help with ITC measurements.;The authors declare no interest conflict.Electronic supplementary information (ESI) includes the details of this article: synthetic procedures, 1H- and 13C-NMR, and mass spectra of CP1–CP6 and their precursors (Figs. S1–S14), CLSM images of C. pyrenoidosa/CP1–CP6 complexes (Fig. S15), the ITC results obtained by titrating CP1–CP6 into the C. pyrenoidosa suspension (Fig. S16), chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were measured using a Handy PEA chlorophyll fluorimeter under dark conditions (Table S1), fitting the results of fluorescence decay kinetics (Table S2). ESI is available free of charge in the online version of this article at http://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3562-4.The related data of this study can be obtained from the corresponding authors for reasonable reasons.
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3562-4
  中图分类号：
- 收稿：2025-12-11，
  
  录用：2026-01-06，
  
  网络首发：2026-03-03，
  
  纸质出版：2026-04-05
- Accepted：
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Xu, X. L.; Lin, J. T.; Xia, S. P.; Zhao, Y.; Bai, H. T.; Huang, Y. M. Poly(benzimidazolium-phenylthiophene) featuring flexible cationic backbone enhanced photosynthesis of Chlorella pyrenoidosa. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 1059–1068

Xiao-Long Xu, Jian-Tao Lin, Sheng-Peng Xia, et al. Poly(benzimidazolium-phenylthiophene) Featuring Flexible Cationic Backbone Enhanced Photosynthesis of Chlorella pyrenoidosa[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(4): 1059-1068. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3562-4.
Xu, X. L.; Lin, J. T.; Xia, S. P.; Zhao, Y.; Bai, H. T.; Huang, Y. M. Poly(benzimidazolium-phenylthiophene) featuring flexible cationic backbone enhanced photosynthesis of Chlorella pyrenoidosa. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 1059–1068 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3562-4.

Xiao-Long Xu, Jian-Tao Lin, Sheng-Peng Xia, et al. Poly(benzimidazolium-phenylthiophene) Featuring Flexible Cationic Backbone Enhanced Photosynthesis of Chlorella pyrenoidosa[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(4): 1059-1068. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3562-4. DOI：

摘要

In this study

polybenzimidazolium derivatives with a flexible cationic backbone were designed and synthesized

which interacted with

Chlorella pyrenoidosa

and enhanced its photosynthetic efficiency. The strategy of constructing artificial photosynthetic biohybrid systems by combining energy-conversion materials with microorganisms provides an important approach for boosting photosynthesis and biomass synthesis.

Abstract

The development of synthetic hybrid biological systems integrating photosynthetic organisms with organic-abiotic functional materials holds significant promise for enhancing photosynthetic processes. The artificial regulation of the state transition between photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII)

represents a strategic and promising approach for improving the efficiency of natural photosynthesis. In this study

we demonstrate that poly(benzimidazolium-phenylthiophene) (CP4) featuring a flexible cationic backbone exhibits superior ultraviolet light-harvesting capability. The polymer CP4 enhanced PSI activity in

Chlorella pyrenoidosa

(

C. pyrenoidosa)

subsequently promoting PSII activity and augmenting overall photosynthetic performance. During light-dependent reactions

CP4 significantly accelerated photosynthetic electron transfer

resulting in a 330% increase in the production of oxygen and 93% and 96% increases in the ATP and NADPH contents

respectively. In the context of dark reactions

CP4 facilitated the conversion and utilization of light energy

leading to a 6% increase in both carbohydrate and protein contents. These findings indicate that synthetic light-harvesting polymer materials exhibit considerable application potential in the field of biomass production through enhancement of natural photosynthetic efficiency.

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Poly(benzimidazolium-phenylthiophene) Featuring Flexible Cationic Backbone Enhanced Photosynthesis of Chlorella pyrenoidosa

Poly(benzimidazolium-phenylthiophene) Featuring Flexible Cationic Backbone Enhanced Photosynthesis of Chlorella pyrenoidosa

DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3562-4

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

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