Scientists at Texas A&M University have developed a new family of polymers capable of destroying pathogenic bacteria without causing antibiotic resistance. The results of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
According to the authors of the scientific paper, the new compounds act through a mechanism against which microbes do not develop resistance. These molecules belong to cationic polymers, which are a promising class of bioactive agents that disrupt bacterial cell membranes.
In the study, the scientists synthesised the polymers from a molecule of nonbornane, a hydrocarbon consisting of two cycles. In a process called cycle-opening metathesis polymerisation, nonbornan condenses with a molecule of N-methylpyridinium to form a large molecule consisting of the same repeating motif.
