Engineering of hollow polymeric nanosphere-supported imidazolium-based ionic liquids with enhanced antimicrobial activities
Yu Zhang, Shuwei Li, Yixin Xu, Xinyun Shi, Mingxin Zhang, Yingning Huang, Ying Liang, Yaqiong Chen, Wanli Ji, Jung Rae Kim, Wenliang Song, Deng‐Guang Yu, Il Kim
Abstract
The design of stable, efficient and processable bactericidal materials represents a significant challenge for combating multidrug-resistant bacteria in a variety of engineering fields. Herein, we report a facile strategy for the preparation of hollow polymeric nanosphere (HPN)-supported imidazolium-based ionic liquids (denoted as HPN-ILs) with superior antimicrobial activities. HPN-ILs were tailored by moderate Friedel-Crafts polymerization followed by the sequential covalent bonding of imidazole and bromoalkene. The resultant HPN-ILs have uniform hollow spherical morphology, an adequate surface area, and excellent physicochemical stability. Furthermore, they are highly active against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and exhibit typical time/dosage-dependent antibacterial activities. The rational combination of porous HPNs and antibacterial ILs to generate an all-in-one entity may open new avenues for the design and fabrication of efficient bacteriostatic agents. Moreover, HPN-ILs have good biocompatibility and can also be loaded onto diverse matrices, and thus could extend their practical bactericidal application in the potential biomedical-active field.