氟化修饰显著提高碳点的抗菌活性

本文采用支化聚乙烯亚胺和乙醇制备阳离子碳点,并在其表面接枝含氟烷基链,得到一种氟化修饰的碳点材料,其对革兰氏阳性菌金黄色葡萄球菌以及革兰氏阴性菌大肠杆菌和绿脓杆菌都表现出了优异的抗菌活性,而对哺乳动物细胞具有较低的毒性。通过构效关系研究发现,氟化修饰对于碳点的抗菌活性至关重要,将含氟烷基链替换成烷烃基链会极大削弱碳点的抗菌性能。本文的结果为阳离子抗菌材料的设计提供了新的思路。

Fluorination Significantly Improves the Antibacterial Activity of Carbon Dots

In this study, carbon dots were synthesized by branched polyethyleneimine and ethanol, and the cationic carbon dots were further grafted with fluoroalkane chains to obtain fluorinated carbon dots. They exhibited high antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and relative low cytotoxicity on mammalian cells. The structure-activity relationship of fluorinated carbon dots showed that fluorination is critical for the high antibacterial activity of carbon dots, and the replacement of fluoroalkane chains with alkane containing the same number of carbon atom significantly reduces the antibacterial activity. This study can provide new insights into the rational design of nanomaterials for antibacterial applications.