The function of peptide-mimetic anionic groups and salt bridges in the antimicrobial activity and conformation of cationic amphiphilic copolymers

Abstract

Amino acid-mimetic anionic groups and salt bridges in cationic amphiphilic copolymers control the polymer conformation and dynamics in solution.

Solvent Remodeling in Single‐Chain Amphiphilic Heteropolymer Systems

“…Noncovalent intrachain associations have been shown to restrict heteropolymer assembly before through salt bridging in water amongst anionic and cationic monomers and in organic solvent via strong fluorocarbon associations. [ 4,20 ] The extremely high correlations between positions of the sulfur atoms in our polymer conformations in THF or hexane naturally explain the mobility and configurational differences between Sequences 1 and 2, locking sequence 1 into place due to electrostatic interactions in the low dielectric mediums.…”

“…Methacrylate-based random heteropolymers (RHPs) are one such system, which self-assembles into nano-scale particles containing single or few chains in water, and offers an exciting DOI: 10.1002/marc.202200142 avenue for protein stabilization and mimicry, nanofiltration, and other promising applications. [3][4][5][6][7] Behavior of methacrylate-based designs in water have been studied most in depth, as many of their applications occur in aqueous environments. [8,9] We previously studied a specific RHP design-space through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and elucidated the resulting SCNP structure, dynamics, and driving forces to assembly in water.…”

“…Methacrylate‐based random heteropolymers (RHPs) are one such system, which self‐assembles into nano‐scale particles containing single or few chains in water, and offers an exciting avenue for protein stabilization and mimicry, nanofiltration, and other promising applications. [ 3–7 ] Behavior of methacrylate‐based designs in water have been studied most in depth, as many of their applications occur in aqueous environments. [ 8,9 ]…”

Targeting Cariogenic Streptococcus mutans in Oral Biofilms with Charge-Switching Smart Antimicrobial Polymers

“…To investigate the effect of hydrophobic alkyl groups on antimicrobial activity, copolymers with ethyl (Poly1A-Et), butyl (Poly-1A), and hexyl (Poly1A-Hex) groups were also synthesized. The number of cationic groups was >5 for the copolymers, which would be sufficient for antimicrobial activity. , In addition, the copolymer without hydrophobic groups (Poly-2) was also prepared to investigate the charge-switching properties of the copolymer. To investigate any effect of the carboxylic groups on antimicrobial activity, acidic copolymer Poly-Mac consisting of methacrylic acid and butyl methacrylate was also synthesized.…”

“…Our previous study investigated the antimicrobial activity of cationic amphiphilic methacrylate copolymers with anionic carboxylate groups, which mimic the acidic amino acid residues (aspartic and glutamic acid) in natural host-defense antimicrobial peptides such as LL-37. 16 The copolymer consists of ternary compositions of monomers with a cationic ethyl ammonium group, a carboxylic group, and a hydrophobic group in the side chains. The net charge of the polymer is charge neutral at neutral pH but switched to be cationic because the acidic carboxylate side chains are protonated and become neutral, but the ammonium groups remained positive.…”