High-Throughput Preparation of Antibacterial Polymers from Natural Product Derivatives via the Hantzsch Reaction

• Published in: iScience Vol. 23; no. 1; p. 100754
• Main Authors: Liu, Guoqiang, Zhang, Qiang, Li, Yongsan, Wang, Xing, Wu, Haibo, Wei, Yen, Zeng, Yuan, Tao, Lei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 24.01.2020; Elsevier
• Subjects: Natural Product Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Polymers; Polymers; Natural Product Chemistry; Organic Chemistry
• ISSN: 2589-0042; 2589-0042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2019.100754

The Hantzsch and free-radical polymerization reactions were combined in a one-pot high-throughput (HTP) system to simultaneously prepare 30 unique polymers in parallel. Six aldehydes derived from natural products were used as the starting materials to rapidly prepare the library of 30 poly(1,4-dihydropyridines). From this library, HTP evaluation methods led to the identification of an antibacterial polymer. Mechanistic studies revealed that the dihydropyridine group in the polymer side-chain structure plays an important role in resisting bacterial attachment to the polymer surface, thus leading to the antibacterial function of this polymer. This research demonstrates the value of multicomponent reactions (MCRs) in interdisciplinary fields by discovering functional polymers for possible practical applications. It also provides insights to further developing new functional polymers using MCRs and HTP methods with important implications in organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and materials science. [Display omitted] •A one-pot high-throughput (HTP) system was developed to prepare a polymer library•A new antibacterial polymer was selected from this library via HTP measurements•This antibacterial polymer was mixed in polyethylene to get antibacterial utensils•Mechanism study revealed that the Hantzsch reaction leads to new antibacterial polymers Organic Chemistry; Natural Product Chemistry; Polymers