Surprising antibacterial activity and selectivity of hydrophilic phosphonium polymers

Thursday, September 6, 2018 - 19:20 in Physics & Chemistry

Artificial polymers, like antibiotic peptides, need both hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains in their molecular structure to exert antibacterial activity. Now, researchers have synthesized a phosphonium polymer that challenges this view. Their polymer salt contained no hydrophobic alkyl chains but still acted as an extraordinarily efficient biocide. A re-evaluation of established strategies in antibiotics polymer research might be necessary.

Read the whole article on Science Daily

More from Science Daily

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox! It's free!

Check out our next project, Biology.Net