Click, Release, and Fluoresce: A Chemical Strategy for a Cascade Prodrug System for Codelivery of Carbon Monoxide, a Drug Payload, and a Fluorescent Reporter.

A chemical strategy was developed wherein a single trigger sets in motion a three-reaction cascade leading to the release of more than one drug-component in sequence with the generation of a fluorescent side product for easy monitoring. As a proof of concept, codelivery of CO with the antibiotic metronidazole was demonstrated.