Because of the increasing prevalence of multidrug resistance feature, several investigations have been so far reported regarding the antibiotic alternative supramolecular bioactive agents made of hybrid assemblies. In this regard, it is well-established that combinational therapy inherited by assembled supramolecular structures can improve the bioactivity to some extent, but their mode of action has not been studied in detail. We provide first direct evidence that the improved mechanism of action of antimicrobial supra-amphiphilic nanocomposites differs largely from their parent antimicrobial peptide-based polymers. For the construction of a hybrid combinational system, we have synthesized side-chain peptide-based antimicrobial polymers via RAFT polymerization and exploited their cationic nature to decorate supra-amphiphilic nanocomposites via interaction with anionic polyoxometalates. Because of cooperative antimicrobial properties of both the polymer and polyoxometalate, the nanocomposites show an enhanced antimicrobial activity with a different antimicrobial mechanism. The cationic stimuli-responsive peptide-based polymers attack bacteria via membrane disruption mechanism, whereas free radical-mediated cell damage is the likely mechanism of polymer-polyoxometalate-based supra-amphiphilic nanocomposites. Thus, our study highlights the different antimicrobial mechanism of combinational systems in detail, which improves our understanding of enhanced antimicrobial efficacy.
Additives based on polymers of alkyl acrylate used in lubricant composition improve the viscometric and rheological properties of the lubricant and provide fuel economy. However, the recent demand for eco-friendly technology prompted us to develop biodegradable additives for the lubricant formulation. Thus, in anticipation of getting an ideal blend of performance as well as eco-friendly chemistry, the present investigation comprising the incorporation of an α-pinene (α-p) moiety into the acrylate (dodecyl acrylate, DDA, and isodecyl acrylate, IDA) skeleton through copolymerization was undertaken. The analysis of different properties of the polymers indicates that copolymers of α-pinene with DDA have more thermal stability and better pour point and viscosity index (VI) values than the copolymers of α-pinene with IDA. However, the study of the biodegradability test indicates that the copolymers of α-pinene with IDA are better than the other and they show significant biodegradability against the fungal pathogen, Alterneria alernata. In both of the cases, homopolymers are found to be less efficient in performance than the copolymers.' EXPERIMENTAL SECTION Materials. Toluene (GC 99.5 %), hydroquinone (GC 99 %), and H 2 SO 4 were purchased from Merck Specialties Pvt., Ltd.
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