Antimicrobial cationic polymers: from structural design to functional control

Abstract

Antimicrobial cationic polymers mainly contain two functional components: the cationic groups and the hydrophobic groups. The antimicrobial activity is influenced by the type, amount, location and distribution of these two components. This review summarizes the designs and syntheses of antimicrobial cationic polymers by controlling the above two factors. It involves the structural designs from primary to secondary structures, from covalent to noncovalent syntheses and from bulk to surface. Furthermore, it will discuss how to advance structural designs toward functional controls for optimizing the antimicrobial performances and biocompatibility of antimicrobial cationic polymers. It is anticipated that this review will provide some guidelines for developing molecular engineering of antimicrobial cationic polymers with tailor-made structures and functions.

Preparation and properties of antibacterial ABS plastics based on polymeric quaternary phosphonium salts antibacterial agents

“…This phenomenon could be explained by the antibacterial mechanism of quaternary phosphonium salts. Firstly, the antibacterial molecules absorb onto the membrane of bacteria through the cationic groups, and then the hydrophobic alkyl chain inserts into the membrane of bacteria and disrupt it, leading the death of bacteria . A longer alkyl chain would bring an increasing hydrophobic interaction with the lipid bilayer of the cell wall, which means a stronger disruption to the membrane of bacteria .…”

“…Firstly, the antibacterial molecules absorb onto the membrane of bacteria through the cationic groups, and then the hydrophobic alkyl chain inserts into the membrane of bacteria and disrupt it, leading the death of bacteria. 34 A longer alkyl chain would bring an increasing hydrophobic interaction with the lipid bilayer of the cell wall, which means a stronger disruption to the membrane of bacteria. 35 Another phenomenon could be seen that the BrMAP-n with shorter alkyl chain length (BrMAP-3 and BrMAP-6) showed stronger antibacterial activity against S. aureus than against E. coil.…”

Supramolecular Antibacterial Materials for Combatting Antibiotic Resistance

“…PTT has been utilized in bacterial infection and cancer therapies . In light of the severe threats caused by drug resistant pathogens and the fact that temperature‐increasing‐based treatments have been declared to have no drug resistance, PTT has been widely explored recently . Even though PTT has been utilized in clinical applications, it possesses some shortcomings such as side effects to normal tissues and relatively low efficiencies.…”

Amphiphilic water soluble cationic ring opening metathesis copolymer as an antibacterial agent

“…Like cationic antimicrobial host defense peptides, antimicrobial cationic polymers mainly consist of two functional components: one is the based on cationic moieties and segments feature the hydrophobic groups . The cationic functionality may bind to anionic bacterial cell membranes by electrostatic interactions.…”