Photoswitchable Antimicrobial Metallohelices
Abstract
Abstract Chiral subcomponent self‐assembly is used to access optically pure, metallo‐helical species based on Zn and Fe(II) and incorporating three transazobenzene units. UV–vis, circular dichroism, and NMR spectroscopies, alongside X‐ray crystallographic and DFT computational studies are used to unambiguously characterize a highly reversible stepwise photochemical transformation to an all‐ cis state in which structural integrity and optical purity have been retained. Although the all‐ trans state of the water‐soluble enantiomers exhibited low or moderate activity against Gram‐positive strains, irradiation at 365 nm led to up to eight‐fold reduction in MIC. Electron microscopy and a cell permeability assay indicate a membrane disruption mechanism; the higher activity of the photochemically‐generated all‐ cis state is consistent with its more compact supramolecular fold.
Article Details
Authors (17)
Changhao Liu
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing 210093, China
Mi Li
Xinyu Wang
Guoqing Li
Xue Zhao
Xuebin Wang
Siying Qin
Beijing Key Laboratory of Antimicrobial Agents State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Health and Multimorbidity Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College Beijing 100050 China
Xuejian Zhang
MOE Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials & Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Nicola J. Rogers
Department of Chemistry Hong Kong Baptist University Kowloon Tong Hong Kong SAR China
Xin Zhang
Qianshuo Dong
School of Medicine The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Guangdong 518172 China
Guy J. Clarkson
Department of Chemistry University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL UK
Yuji Wang
Xinyi Yang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
Peter Scott
Department of Chemistry
Rubing Wang
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines Institute of Materia Medica Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College Beijing 100050 China
Hualong Song
Department of Chemistry