{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T13:42:20Z","timestamp":1786542140775,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":102,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786492800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Chem."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a minimally invasive and low-toxicity strategy for tumors and bacterial infections. However, conventional small-molecule photosensitizers have poor water solubility, severe aggregation-caused quenching and weak tumor targeting, restricting their clinical translation. Macrocyclic host-guest supramolecular assembly improves the performance of photosensitizers via reversible noncovalent recognition. Pillar[n]arenes feature symmetric electron-rich cavities, abundant modifiable sites and wide guest compatibility, showing outstanding advantages over cyclodextrins, calixarenes and cucurbiturils for responsive photosensitizing platforms. This review summarizes recent advances of pillar[n]arene host-guest systems in PDT. We introduce the structural and recognition features of pillar[n]arenes, classify the fabrication of pillar[n]arene-photosensitizer complexes, and interpret how host-guest inclusion alleviates fluorescence quenching, elevates singlet oxygen yield and triggers tumor microenvironment-responsive drug release. Their applications in anti-tumor PDT, antibacterial photodynamic disinfection and imaging-guided therapy are outlined. We also discuss translational obstacles including insufficient biocompatibility and limited deep-tissue penetration, and propose future directions involving targeted functionalization, multi-modal synergy and degradable macrocyclic skeletons. This work clarifies the structure-activity relationship of pillar[n]arene-based PDT systems and offers guidelines for designing high-performance supramolecular theranostic agents.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fchem.2026.1924748","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T13:22:04Z","timestamp":1786540924000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Recent advances in photodynamic therapy systems based on pillar[n]arene host\u2013guest chemistry"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Fuqiang","family":"Zhao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Institute of Technology","place":["Shanghai, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiying","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Institute of Technology","place":["Shanghai, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Institute of Technology","place":["Shanghai, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"13927","DOI":"10.1021\/acsnano.4c17675","article-title":"Lanthanide-selective artificial channels","volume":"19","author":"Behera","year":"2025","journal-title":"ACS Nano"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1267","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cclet.2020.10.036","article-title":"Recent development of pillar[n]arene-based amphiphiles","volume":"32","author":"Cai","year":"2021","journal-title":"Chin. 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