Chemistry Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Winter 2-6-2017

Journal

Biomacromolecules

Volume

18

Issue

3

First Page

914

Last Page

923

URL with Digital Object Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.6b01785

Abstract

New approaches to treat bacterial infections are badly needed to address the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. This study explores phosphonium-functionalized block copolymer micelles as intrinsically antibacterial polymer assemblies. Phosphonium cations with varying alkyl lengths were conjugated to the terminus of a poly(ethylene oxide)− polycaprolactone block copolymer, and the phosphonium-functionalized block copolymers were self-assembled to form micelles in aqueous solution. The size, morphology, and ζ -potential of the assemblies were studied, and their abilities to kill Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were evaluated. It was found that the minimum bactericidal concentration depended on the phosphonium alkyl chain length, and different trends were observed for Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. The most active assemblies exhibited no hemolysis of red blood cells above the bactericidal concentrations, indicating that they can selectively disrupt the membranes of bacteria. Furthermore, it was possible to encapsulate and release the antibiotic tetracycline using the assemblies, providing a potential multimechanistic approach to bacterial killing.

Notes

This is the author-accepted version article of an article published by Biomacromolecules. The final published version can be found at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.6b01785

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