Poly(ethylene imine)s as antimicrobial agents with selective activity
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Updated: May 19, 2026

Antimicrobial Peptides Produced by Selective Pressure Incorporation of Non-canonical Amino Acids
Published on: May 4, 2018
Katherine A Gibney1, Iva Sovadinova, Analette I Lopez
1Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Michigan 48109, USA.
Abstract:
We report the structure-activity relationship in the antimicrobial activity of linear and branched poly(ethylene imine)s (L- and B-PEIs) with a range of molecular weights (MWs) (500-12,000). Both L- and B-PEIs displayed enhanced activity against Staphylococcus aureus over Escherichia coli. Both B- and L-PEIs did not cause any significant permeabilization of E. coli cytoplasmic membrane. L-PEIs induced depolarization of S. aureus membrane although B-PEIs did not. The low MW B-PEIs caused little or no hemolysis while L-PEIs are hemolytic. The low MW B-PEIs are less cytotoxic to human HEp-2 cells than other PEIs. However, they induced significant cell viability reduction after 24 h incubation. The results presented here highlight the interplay between polymer size and structure on activity.
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