TY - JOUR
T1 - Main-Chain Polysulfonium Salts
T2 - Development of Non-Ammonium Antibacterial Polymers Similar in Their Activity to Antibiotic Drugs Vancomycin and Kanamycin
AU - Oh, Junki
AU - Khan, Anzar
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (NRF18R1D1A1B07048527). The authors thank Seung-Jin Kim and Prof. Min-Kyu Oh (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Korea University) for help with the antibacterial measurements.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2021/8/9
Y1 - 2021/8/9
N2 - Typically, quaternary ammonium polymers are employed for antibacterial purposes. However, a century of use has led bacteria to develop resistance to such materials. Therefore, attention is now turning toward other cationic moieties. In this context, the present work explores sulfur-based main-chain cationic polymers. The results indicate that sulfonium polymers with a β-hydroxy motif do not suffer from structural instability issues as is commonly observed in cationic polythioethers. Furthermore, they can be highly effective toward important Gram-positive bacterial strains such as Mycobacterium smegmatis, a model organism to develop drugs against rapidly spreading tuberculosis infections. More importantly, however, more challenging Gram-negative strains such as Escherichia coli can also be targeted by the polysulfoniums with equal effectiveness. Interestingly, side-chain sulfonium polyelectrolytes are observed to be devoid of any significant antibacterial activity. Finally, a comparison with kanamycin and vancomycin suggests the present polymers to be similarly effective as the bactericidal antibiotic drugs. Overall, these results indicate the effectiveness of the main-chain trivalent β-hydroxy sulfonium motif for the development of novel antibacterial polymers with a non-ammonium structure.
AB - Typically, quaternary ammonium polymers are employed for antibacterial purposes. However, a century of use has led bacteria to develop resistance to such materials. Therefore, attention is now turning toward other cationic moieties. In this context, the present work explores sulfur-based main-chain cationic polymers. The results indicate that sulfonium polymers with a β-hydroxy motif do not suffer from structural instability issues as is commonly observed in cationic polythioethers. Furthermore, they can be highly effective toward important Gram-positive bacterial strains such as Mycobacterium smegmatis, a model organism to develop drugs against rapidly spreading tuberculosis infections. More importantly, however, more challenging Gram-negative strains such as Escherichia coli can also be targeted by the polysulfoniums with equal effectiveness. Interestingly, side-chain sulfonium polyelectrolytes are observed to be devoid of any significant antibacterial activity. Finally, a comparison with kanamycin and vancomycin suggests the present polymers to be similarly effective as the bactericidal antibiotic drugs. Overall, these results indicate the effectiveness of the main-chain trivalent β-hydroxy sulfonium motif for the development of novel antibacterial polymers with a non-ammonium structure.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111182277&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.biomac.1c00627
DO - 10.1021/acs.biomac.1c00627
M3 - Article
C2 - 34251178
AN - SCOPUS:85111182277
SN - 1525-7797
VL - 22
SP - 3534
EP - 3542
JO - Biomacromolecules
JF - Biomacromolecules
IS - 8
ER -