Sequence Control as a Powerful Tool for Improving the Selectivity of Antimicrobial Polymers.

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Microbiology

Background:

• Conventional antibiotics face increasing bacterial resistance.
• Antimicrobial polymers offer an alternative by disrupting bacterial membranes.
• Polymer segmentation influences antimicrobial activity and selectivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how polymer segmentation affects antimicrobial selectivity between bacteria and mammalian cells.
• To synthesize and characterize statistical, diblock, and multiblock copolymers.
• To evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy and biocompatibility of these polymers.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of copolymers using Reversible Addition-Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) polymerization.
• Analysis of polymer hydrophobicity using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).
• Antimicrobial testing against *Escherichia coli*, *Pseudomonas aeruginosa*, *Staphylococcus aureus*, and *Staphylococcus epidermidis*.
• Biocompatibility assessment via hemolysis, erythrocyte aggregation, and mammalian cell viability assays.

Main Results:

• Segmentation significantly influenced polymer hydrophobicity.
• Diblock and multiblock copolymers demonstrated superior antimicrobial activity compared to statistical copolymers.
• Multiblock copolymers exhibited significantly enhanced selectivity for *P. aeruginosa* and *S. epidermidis* at low cationic comonomer content.

Conclusions:

• Polymer segmentation profoundly impacts physical properties and biological interactions.
• Multiblock copolymers represent a promising platform for targeted antimicrobial therapies.
• These materials offer a valuable strategy to combat antimicrobial resistance.