Controlling the structure of supramolecular fibre formation for benzothiazole based hydrogels with antimicrobial activity against methicillin resistantStaphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats to human health. Gram-positive methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), in both its planktonic and biofilm form, is of particular concern. Herein we...

Tools to enable the study and translation of supramolecular amphiphiles

“…In general, SSAs have been shown to form anionic hydrogen bonded dimers in organic polar solvents such as DMSO, spherical aggregates ( d H ≈ 100–550 nm in aqueous conditions) and, in some instances, to form gel fibres upon the addition of certain salts, following an annealing process. 5,15 However to support that lower-order structures formed by this class of compounds in polar organic solvents were likely to be dimers of the SSA anionic component, HRMS-ESI − methodologies were utilised to confirm those self-associated species present in the gas-phase. 11 This study showed that a high percentage of those SSAs tested (Fig.…”

“…SC-XRD enables insight into the self-associative nature of amphiphiles in the solid state, which are often hypothesised to affect nanostructure and material formation. 5…”

“…The only difference between these structures being the length of the alkyl spacer between the urea and sulfonate functionalities ( 4 = methyl, 14 = ethyl, 36 = propyl). 5…”

“…Here the changes in the morphology of those fibres formed, through a stepwise change in SSA (the addition of one CH 2 ) could clearly be observed without the removal of solvent. 5…”

“…Due to this combination of hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties, members from this class of compound can self-associate in solution to form a variety of morphologies, including micelles, vesicles, nanotubes, bilayers, tubules, and reverse micelles. 1 The importance of these amphiphilic systems is highlighted by their wide range of uses including, but not limited to, therapeutic applications (anticancer 2,3 or antimicrobial 3 agents and drug delivery systems), 4 material applications (functional biomaterials) 5 and as sensors or probes. 6 These amphiphilic morphologies possess characteristics that can be investigated using an extensive range of techniques, as outlined in Fig.…”