Strategies from nature: polycaprolactone-based mimetic antimicrobial peptide block copolymers with low cytotoxicity and excellent antibacterial efficiency $(document).ready(function() { if (!$("html").hasClass("ie8")) { $.ajax({ url: "https://crossmark-cdn.crossref.org/widget/v2.0/widget.js", dataType: "script", cache: true }).done(function() { $(".crossmark-button").addClass("visible"); }); } });

Abstract

The resistance of bacteria to antibiotics has caused serious threats to public health and it is urgent to develop novel antibacterial agents that do not induce drug resistance. Herein, a series of novel antibacterial copolymers, PCL₁₆-b-K_n, mimicking the structure and action mechanism of natural antimicrobial peptides is reported. The diblock copolymers were synthesized via ring-opening polymerization and facile coupling reaction. The antibacterial results confirmed that the diblock copolymers possess superior antibacterial activities and exhibit rapid bactericidal action against both S. aureus and E. coli. A conclusion can be drawn that the antibacterial activity can be promoted by achieving a balance between the cationic and hydrophobic segments in the copolymers. Further hemolysis and cytotoxicity tests suggest the excellent biocompatibility of these diblock copolymers. Overall, our synthetic strategy demonstrates a new concept of designing novel biocompatible antibacterial copolymers and expands the categories of next-generation antibacterial agents without inducing drug resistance.