The design and use of materials in the nanoscale size range for addressing medical and health-related issues continues to receive increasing interest. Research in nanomedicine spans a multitude of areas, including drug delivery, vaccine development, antibacterial, diagnosis and imaging tools, wearable devices, implants, high-throughput screening platforms, etc. using biological, nonbiological, biomimetic, or hybrid materials. Many of these developments are starting to be translated into viable clinical products. Here, we provide an overview of recent developments in nanomedicine and highlight the current challenges and upcoming opportunities for the field and translation to the clinic.

This Review summarizes the latest advances in the field of rylene dyes and rylene nanoemitters for applications in photonics, and describes the influence of the dye design on the optical properties, the self-assembly, the molecular interactions, as well as the labeling specificity of the compounds. The interplay between tailored (macro)molecular design and bulk/single-molecule spectroscopy enables complex processes to be explained, for example, the kinetics of energy-transfer processes or (bio)catalysis. Such investigations are essential for the ultimate design of optimized nanoemitters, and require a close cooperation between spectroscopists and preparative organic chemists.