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    Ionic Liquids as Biocompatible Antibacterial Agents: A Case Study on Structure-Related Bioactivity on Escherichia coli

    Year: 2022

    Journal: ACS Appl. Bio Mater., Volume 5, NOV 21, page 5181–5189

    Authors: Fernandes, Margarida M.; Carvalho, Estela O.; Correia, Daniela M.; Esperanca, Jose M. S. S.; Padrao, Jorge; Ivanova, Kristina; Hoyo, Javier; Tzanov, Tzanko; Lanceros-Mendez, Senentxu

    Organizations: Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) [SFRH/BPD/121464/2016, SFRH/BPD/121526/2016, SFRH/BD/145455/2019, UID/FIS/04650/2021, UID/BIO/04469/2021, PTDC/BTM-MAT/28237/2017, PTDC/EMD-EMD/28159/2017, UIDB/50006/2020, UIDP/50006/2020]; Spanish State Research Agency (AEI); European Regional Development Fund (ERFD) [PID2019-106099RB-C43/AEI]; Basque Government Industry Departments under the ELKARTEK program

    Keywords: ionic liquids; antimicrobial; biocompatible; surface activity; Escherichia coli

    The potential of ionic liquids (ILs) to be used as antimicrobial agents for biomedical applications has been hindered by the fact that most of them are cytotoxic toward mammalian cells. Understanding the mechanism of bacterial and mammalian cellular damage of ILs is key to their safety design. In this work, we evaluate the antimicrobial activity and mode of action of several ILs with varying anions and cations toward the clinically relevant Gram-negative Escherichia coli. Langmuir monolayer technique was used to evaluate if the IL's mode of action was related to the bacterial cell membrane interaction for an effective E. coli killing. 1-Decyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide [DMIM] [TFSI] and trihexyltetradecyl phosphonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide [P6,6,6,14][TFSI] were surface-active and induced bacterial cell lysis, through a membrane-disruption phenomenon on bacteria, in a mechanism that was clearly related to the long alkyl chains of the cation. 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate [EMIM] [HSO4] was highly antimicrobial toward E. coli and found suitable for biological applications since it was harmless to mammalian cells at most of the tested concentrations. The results suggest that the imidazolium cation of the ILs is mostly responsible not only for their antimicrobial activity but also for their cytotoxicity, and the inclusion of different anions may tailor the ILs' biocompatibility without losing the capacity to kill bacteria, as is the case of [EMIM][HSO4]. Importantly, this IL was found to be highly antimicrobial even when incorporated in a polymeric matrix.
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