Sustainable, Site-Specific Linkage of Antimicrobial Peptides to Cotton Textiles

Nonleaching Antimicrobial Cotton Fabrics Finished with Hyperbranched Polylysine

The choice of the antimicrobial agent and finishing process is very important for the activity, durability, and safety of antimicrobial fabrics. Here, a novel antimicrobial cotton fabric (HPL-CF) was constructed by covalently bonding an antimicrobial agent, hyperbranched polylysine (HPL), onto the surface of a cotton fabric (CF) pretreated with a silane coupling agent, 3-chloropropyltrimethoxysilane (CPTMS). The multiple amino groups contained in the periphery of HPL make it possible to react with the CF to form multiple bonds, which is beneficial to improve the durability and safety of HPL-CFs. The obtained HPL-CFs exhibited excellent antimicrobial activities against Escherichia coli (E. coli, Gram-negative bacteria), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus, Gram-positive bacteria), and Candida albicans (C. albicans, fungi) even when the CF was treated with HPL solution at the concentration of 0.5 wt %. HPL2.0-CFs maintained 98, >99, and >99% of antimicrobial ratios for E. coli, S. aureus, and C. albicans, respectively, after 50 equiv of domestic laundering cycles, surpassing the requirements of the AAA class. The halo method, cell compatibility, and skin irritation assays all prove the fine safety of HPL-CFs. This work demonstrates the great advantages of applying HPL in the antimicrobial finishing of fabrics.

Oxime and thiazolidine chemoselective ligation reactions: a green method for cotton functionalization

During the last years, the need to create textile materials provided with peculiar properties has grown significantly. In particular, new textiles are studied to be a first protection in the prevention of living organisms from pathogens. In this regard, modifying a textile material with biologically active compounds, such as antibacterial or antiviral peptides would be useful for many applications. Our work shows a study on the possibility of modifying cotton fabrics with peptides using thiazolidine and oxime chemoselective ligations. For this purpose, an enzymatic oxidation of cellulose in a heterogeneous phase and the possibility to reuse the oxidation solution for multiple times was successfully applied. Model peptides have been designed and synthesized in order to set up the conditions for conjugating peptides to cotton via either thiazolidine or oxime bond. A systematic study of the time, pH, and quantities needed for the best reaction conditions has been conducted. The efficiency and stability of the two chemoselective ligation bonds have been studied and compared.

Graphical abstract

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10570-023-05253-1.

Antimicrobial peptides and their potential application in antiviral coating agents

Coronavirus pandemic has evidenced the importance of creating bioactive materials to mitigate viral infections, especially in healthcare settings and public places. Advances in antiviral coatings have led to materials with impressive antiviral performance; however, their application may face health and environmental challenges. Bio-inspired antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are suitable building blocks for antimicrobial coatings due to their versatile design, scalability, and environmentally friendly features. This review presents the advances and opportunities on the AMPs to create virucidal coatings. The review first describes the fundamental characteristics of peptide structure and synthesis, highlighting the recent findings on AMPs and the role of peptide structure (α-helix, β-sheet, random, and cyclic peptides) on the virucidal mechanism. The following section presents the advances in AMPs coating on medical devices with a detailed description of the materials coated and the targeted pathogens. The use of peptides in vaccine formulations is also reported, emphasizing the molecular interaction of peptides with different viruses and the current clinical stage of each formulation. The role of several materials (metallic particles, inorganic materials, and synthetic polymers) in the design of antiviral coatings is also presented, discussing the advantages and the drawbacks of each material. The final section offers future directions and opportunities for using AMPs on antiviral coatings to prevent viral outbreaks.