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Updated: May 27, 2026

Antimicrobial Characterization of Advanced Materials for Bioengineering Applications
Published on: August 4, 2018
Quaternary ammonium salts and their antimicrobial potential: targets or nonspecific interactions?
Maximilian Tischer1, Gabriele Pradel, Knut Ohlsen
1Institute of Pharmacy and Food Chemistry, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Abstract:
For more than 50 years dequalinium chloride has been used successfully as an antiseptic drug and disinfectant, particularly for clinical purposes. Given the success of dequalinium chloride, several series of mono- and bisquaternary ammonium compounds have been designed and reported to have improved antimicrobial activity. Furthermore, many of them exhibit high activity against mycobacteria and protozoa, especially against plasmodia. This review discusses the structure-activity relationships and the modes of action of the various series of (bis)quaternary ammonium compounds.
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