Antimicrobial activity of a conjugated polymer with cationic backbone

Abstract Owing to the misuse of antibiotics and slow development of new drugs, antibiotic-resistant pathogens have become a serious threat to human health. With the aim of developing new antimicrobial agents, we designed and synthesized a new conjugated polymer ( PFPhim ), which possesses an imidazolium containing backbone. The cationic backbone enables it to strongly interact with bacterial membrane leading to an antimicrobial ability that is more potent than that of a conjugated polymer containing a neutral backbone. PFPhim also displays strong photodynamic antimicrobial activity.