Abstract
New antimicrobial agents are needed to address ever-increasing antimicrobial resistance and a growing epidemic of infections caused by multidrug resistant pathogens. We design nanostructured antimicrobial copolymers containing multicyclic natural products that bear facial amphiphilicity. Bile acid based macromolecular architectures of these nanostructures can interact preferentially with bacterial membranes. Incorporation of polyethylene glycol into the copolymers not only improved the colloidal stability of nanostructures but also increased the biocompatibility. This study investigated the effects of facial amphiphilicity, polymer architectures, and self-assembled nanostructures on antimicrobial activity. Advanced nanostructures such as spheres, vesicles, and rod-shaped aggregates are formed in water from the facial amphiphilic cationic copolymers via supramolecular interactions. These aggregates were particularly interactive toward Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial cell membranes and showed low hemolysis against mammalian cells.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 21221-21230 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 19 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 13 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors acknowledge the funding support from National Science Foundation Award # DMR-1608151 and in part by the Award # OIA-1655740.
Funders | Funder number |
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National Science Foundation | DMR-1608151, 1655740, OIA-1655740 |
Keywords
- antimicrobial nanostructures
- bile acids
- biocompatibility
- charge density
- facial amphiphilicity
- gradient copolymers
- self-assembly