There is considerable interest in the development of antimicrobial polymers including dendrimers due to the ease of synthesis and low manufacturing cost compared to host defense peptides (HDPs). Herein, a new class of nanomaterials—lipidated amphiphilic dendrimers—is presented that mimic the antibacterial mechanism of HDPs by compromising bacterial cell membranes. Unlike conventional dendrimers that are prepared generation by generation symmetrically with molecular weight distribution, these lipidated dendrimers are prepared on the solid phase with a hanging lipid tail and precisely controlled structure. It is shown through rational design that these lipidated dendrimers display potent and selective antimicrobial activity against both Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria, including multidrug‐resistant strains. In addition to antibacterial activity against planktonic bacteria, these dendrimers are also shown to inhibit bacterial biofilms effectively. This class of dendrimers as a new class of biomaterials may lead to a useful generation of antibiotic agents with practical applications.

中文翻译：

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纳米脂质脂质树状聚合物作为强效和广谱抗菌剂

由于与宿主防御肽（HDP）相比易于合成且制造成本低，因此对包括树枝状聚合物在内的抗菌聚合物的开发引起了极大的兴趣。在此，提出了一种新型的纳米材料-脂质两亲树状聚合物-通过损害细菌细胞膜来模仿HDP的抗菌机制。与通过分子量分布对称地一代一代制备的常规树状聚合物不同，这些脂质化的树状聚合物是在固相上制备的，具有悬挂的脂质尾巴和精确受控的结构。通过合理的设计表明，这些脂化树状聚合物对革兰氏阳性和革兰氏阴性细菌（包括耐多药菌株）均显示出有效的选择性抗菌活性。除了对浮游细菌具有抗菌活性外，这些树状聚合物还显示出有效抑制细菌生物膜的作用。这类树枝状大分子作为一类新型的生物材料可能会导致在实际应用中产生有用的抗生素。