Abstract: 

Addressing the growing concern about antibiotic-resistant bacteria, I developed a series of polymers exhibiting intrinsic antibacterial activities with a dual-targeting system that induces physical lysis upon copolymer coalescence with bacterial matter. These polymers are equipped with two orthogonal binding motifs that form electrostatic interactions and dynamic covalent complexes on bacterial surfaces. The effect of the chemical composition and architecture of copolymers incorporating phenylboronic acid, formylphenyl, and quaternary ammonium functional groups on antimicrobial activity was systematically examined. These bactericidal polymers exhibit potent antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains while also demonstrating excellent biocompatibility against mammalian and red blood cells. The work in this presentation established a novel class of antimicrobial agents that function by the coalescing of synthetic antimicrobial polymers with bacterial matter.