Schematic representation of synergistic action of electrostatic interactions of polyglycerol sulfate and conjugated aliphatic chains to the surface of nG-PGS.

A novel surface coating with durable broad-spectrum antibacterial ability was prepared based on mussel-inspired dendritic polyglycerol (MI-dPG) embedded with copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs). The functional surface coating is fabricated via a facile dip-coating process followed by in situ reduction of copper ions with a MI-dPG coating to introduce Cu NPs into the coating matrix. This coating has been demonstrated to possess efficient long-term antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli (E. coli), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), and kanamycin-resistant E. coli through an "attract-kill-release" strategy. The synergistic antibacterial activity of the coating was shown by the combination of two functions of the contact killing, reactive oxygen species production and Cu ions released from the coating. Furthermore, this coating inhibited biofilm formation and showed good compatibility to eukaryotic cells. Thus, this newly developed Cu NP-incorporated MI-dPG surface coating may find potential application in the design of antimicrobial coating, such as implantable devices.

SARS-CoV-2 poses a major threat to the public health worldwide, as it causes a respiratory disease named COVID-19. Since the first case report in December 2019, a pandemic ensued with approximately one million deaths within the first nine months. [1] SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the beta-coronavirus genus. All coronaviruses have a lipid envelope with a capsid, which encapsulates the helical nucleocapsid with the RNA genome. [2] The most prominent viral envelope component is the spike glycoprotein (S), which interacts with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on the surface of host cells and initiates virus entry, the first step of the SARS-CoV-2 infection cycle. [1,3-5] Moreover, the polybasic cleavage site of S is found to play a crucial role in the binding between the virus and ACE2. [6] Numerous efforts have been devoted to development of vaccines that generate neutralizing antibodies toward S to block viral interaction with Search of new strategies for the inhibition of respiratory viruses is one of the urgent health challenges worldwide, as most of the current therapeutic agents and treatments are inefficient. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a pandemic and has taken lives of approximately two million people to date. Even though various vaccines are currently under development, virus, and especially its spike glycoprotein can mutate, which highlights a need for a broad-spectrum inhibitor. In this work, inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 by graphene platforms with precise dual sulfate/alkyl functionalities is investigated. A series of graphene derivatives with different lengths of aliphatic chains is synthesized and is investigated for their ability to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 and feline coronavirus. Graphene derivatives with long alkyl chains (>C9) inhibit coronavirus replication by virtue of disrupting viral envelope. The ability of these graphene platforms to rupture viruses is visualized by atomic force microscopy and cryogenic electron microscopy. A large concentration window (10 to 100-fold) where graphene platforms display strongly antiviral activity against native SARS-CoV-2 without significant toxicity against human cells is found. In this concentration range, the synthesized graphene platforms inhibit the infection of enveloped viruses efficiently, opening new therapeutic and metaphylactic avenues against SARS-CoV-2. The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under

Although mussel‐inspired surface chemistry is one of the most utilized strategies for surface functionalization, its practical and/or industrial applications are rather limited, because dip coating can only treat small surface areas and is dependent on the coating vessel. Herein a mussel‐inspired, polymer‐based, multifunctional, and substrate‐independent spray coating strategy for surface modification under extremely mild conditions using mussel‐inspired polyglycerol is described. The postfunctionalization of the obtained surface via spray coating with silver nanoparticles results in a nanoparticle embedded coating with excellent, long‐term antibacterial properties. Furthermore, a simple method for preparing a superhydrophobic, highly water‐repellent coating by coformulation of the mussel‐inspired spray coating with hydrophobic nanoparticles is presented.

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is one of the most dangerous viruses for pigs and is endemic in Africa but recently also spread into the Russian Federation and the Eastern border of the EU. So far there is no vaccine or antiviral drug available to curtail the infection. Thus, control strategies based on novel inhibitors are urgently needed. Another highly relevant virus infection in pigs is Aujeszky's disease caused by the alphaherpesvirus pseudorabies virus (PrV). This article reports the synthesis and biological evaluation of novel extracellular matrix-inspired entry inhibitors based on polyglycerol sulfate-functionalized graphene sheets. The developed 2D architectures bind enveloped viruses during the adhesion process and thereby exhibit strong inhibitory effects, which are equal or better than the common standards enrofloxacin and heparin as demonstrated for ASFV and PrV. Overall, the developed polyvalent 2D entry inhibitors are nontoxic and efficient nanoarchitectures, which interact with various types of enveloped viruses. Therefore they prevent viral adhesion to the host cell and especially target viruses that rely on a heparan sulfate-dependent cell entry mechanism.

A controlled, reproducible, gram‐scale method is reported for the covalent functionalization of graphene sheets by a one‐pot nitrene [2+1] cycloaddition reaction under mild conditions. The reaction between commercially available 2,4,6‐trichloro‐1,3,5‐triazine and sodium azide with thermally reduced graphene oxide (TRGO) results in defined dichlorotriazine‐functionalized sheets. The different reactivities of the chlorine substituents on the functionalized graphene allow stepwise post‐modification by manipulating the temperature. This new method provides unique access to defined bifunctional 2D nanomaterials, as exemplified by chiral surfaces and multifunctional hybrid architectures.

Biofouling constitutes a major challenge in the application of biosensors and biomedical implants, as well as for (food) packaging and marine equipment. In this work, an antifouling surface coating based on the combination of mussel-inspired dendritic polyglycerol (MI-dPG) and an amine-functionalized block copolymer of linear polyglycerol (lPG−b−OA 11 , OA = oligo-amine) was developed. The coating was compared to a MI-dPG surface which was postfunctionalized with commercially available amine-terminated polyethylene glycol (HO−PEG−NH 2 ) of similar molecular weight. In the current work, these coatings were compared in their chemical stability, protein fouling characteristics, and cell fouling characteristics. The lPG−b−OA 11 -functionalized coating showed high chemical stability in both phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solutions and reduced the adhesion of fibrinogen from human plasma with 99% and the adhesion of human serum albumin with 96%, in comparison to the bare titanium dioxide substrate. Furthermore, the proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was reduced with 85% when the lPG−b−OA 11 system was compared to bare titanium dioxide. Additionally, a reduction of 94% was observed when the lPG−b−OA 11 system was compared to tissue culture polystyrene.

Understanding the mechanism of interactions of nanomaterials at biointerfaces is a crucial issue to develop new antimicrobial vectors. In this work, a series of water-soluble fullerene-polyglycerol sulfates (FPS) with different fullerene/polymer weight ratios and varying numbers of polyglycerol sulfate branches are synthesized, characterized, and their interactions with two distinct surfaces displaying proteins involved in target cell recognition are investigated. The combination of polyanionic branches with a solvent exposed variable hydrophobic core in FPS proves to be superior to analogs possessing only one of these features in preventing interaction of vesicular stomatitis virus coat glycoprotein (VSV-G) with baby hamster kidney cells serving as a model of host cell. Interference with L-selectin-ligand binding is dominated by the negative charge, which is studied by two assays: a competitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based inhibition assay and the leukocyte cell (NALM-6) rolling on ligands under flow conditions. Due to possible intrinsic hydrophobic and electrostatic effects of synthesized compounds, pico- to nanomolar half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC ) are achieved. With their highly antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, together with good biocompatibility, FPS are promising candidates for the future development towards biomedical applications.