Resistance of pathogenic bacteria against currently marketed antibiotics is again increasing. To meet the societal need for effective cures, scientists are faced with the challenge of developing more potent but equally bacteria-specific drugs. Currently, most efforts are directed toward the modification of existing antibiotics, but ideally, compounds with a new mode of action are required. In this Account, we detail our findings in the area of novel metal-based antibiotics. Our strategy is based on the modification of simple antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with organometallic agents, resulting in organometallic AMPs (OM-AMPs). Since bacteria have most likely never encountered these synthetically prepared unnatural organometallic agents, we anticipated that such agents could well become potentiating players in the antibiotics arena. Moreover, exploiting some of the particular properties of metal complexes should also help to elucidate the mode of action of small cationic AMPs, the molecular details of which have remained elusive despite intensive efforts.

中文翻译：

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高强度抗菌有机金属肽结合物

病原菌对目前市售抗生素的抵抗力再次增强。为了满足社会对有效疗法的需求，科学家面临着开发更有效但同样具有细菌特异性的药物的挑战。当前，大多数努力都是针对现有抗生素的修饰，但是理想地，需要具有新作用方式的化合物。在此报告中，我们详细介绍了在新型金属基抗生素领域中的发现。我们的策略基于用有机金属试剂修饰简单的抗菌肽（AMP），从而产生有机金属AMP（OM-AMP）。由于细菌极有可能从未遇到过这些合成制备的非天然有机金属试剂，因此我们预计，此类试剂很可能会成为抗生素领域的增强剂。而且，