清华大学陶磊团队开发了熵驱动多组分反应抗细菌附着聚合物的从头设计策略。相关研究成果于2021年10月7日发表于国际顶尖学术期刊《美国化学会杂志》。

防止细菌附着的非杀菌聚合物对于公共卫生、环境保护和避免超级细菌的产生非常重要。

该文中，受碳纳米管和石墨烯衍生物物理杀菌过程的启发，研究人员通过使用多组分反应（MCR）引入分子“针”（刚性脂肪族链）和分子“剃刀”（多组分结构），开发了抗细菌附着的非杀菌聚合物形成聚合物侧链。计算机模拟揭示了细菌双层膜与聚合物结构中的“针”和“剃刀”之间自发的熵驱动相互作用的发生，并为优化此类聚合物以增强对细菌附着的抵抗力提供了指导。与Sharklet技术制造的商用手机外壳相比，将优化后的聚合物与市售聚氨酯共混可产生一种薄膜，该薄膜在耐磨性、抗细菌粘附性方面具有显著优越的稳定性。

该概念验证通过综合MCR、计算机模拟和聚合物化学技术探索了熵驱动的抗细菌附着聚合物，为防止细菌污染的非杀菌聚合物的从头设计铺平了道路。

附：英文原文

Title: De Novo Design of Entropy-Driven Polymers Resistant to Bacterial Attachment via Multicomponent Reactions

Author: Guoqiang Liu, Ziyang Xu, Xiaobin Dai, Yuan Zeng, Yen Wei, Xianzhe He, Li-Tang Yan, Lei Tao

Issue&Volume: October 7, 2021

Abstract: Nonbactericidal polymers that prevent bacterial attachment are important for public health, environmental protection, and avoiding the generation of superbugs. Here, inspired by the physical bactericidal process of carbon nanotubes and graphene derivatives, we develop nonbactericidal polymers resistant to bacterial attachment by using multicomponent reactions (MCRs) to introduce molecular “needles” (rigid aliphatic chains) and molecular “razors” (multicomponent structures) into polymer side chains. Computer simulation reveals the occurrence of spontaneous entropy-driven interactions between the bacterial bilayers and the “needles” and “razors” in polymer structures and provides guidance for the optimization of this type of polymers for enhanced resistibility to bacterial attachment. The blending of the optimized polymer with commercially available polyurethane produces a film with remarkably superior stability of the resistance to bacterial adhesion after wear compared with that of commercial mobile phone shells made by the Sharklet technology. This proof-of-concept study explores entropy-driven polymers resistant to bacterial attachment via a combination of MCRs, computer simulation, and polymer chemistry, paving the way for the de novo design of nonbactericidal polymers to prevent bacterial contamination.

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c08332

Source: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.1c08332