Photodegradable antimicrobial agents - synthesis, photodegradation, and biological evaluation

Photodegradable antimicrobial agents: towards structure optimization

Antibiotic resistance continues to be an ominous threat facing human health globally and urgent action is required to limit the loss of human life. The pollution of antibiotics into the environment is one of the drivers behind the crisis. With this in mind, we have developed novel photodecomposable antimicrobial agents based on an ethanolamine scaffold, which upon photoirradiation decomposes into two major inactive fragments. Herein we describe our further work on the synthesis of novel ethanolamines with a particular focus on structure activity relationship, resulting in four new active compounds which photodecomposed into inactive fragments.

Re-designing environmentally persistent pharmaceutical pollutant through programmed inactivation: The case of methotrexate

Environmental emission of pharmaceutical pollutants notably causes the contamination of aquatic ecosystems and drinking water. Typically, reduction of these pollutants in the environment is mostly managed by ameliorated wastewater treatments. Here, we report a method for the eco-design of drugs through the introduction within the molecular structure of a sensitive chemical group responsive to water treatments. The new drugs are thus programmed to fragment more easily and quickly than the original drugs. In this "retro catabolic drug design" strategy, methotrexate was used as drug model and an ether analog displaying a similar pharmacological profile was selected. Using photo-irradiation experiments at 254 nm, a representative drinking water treatment process, the identified transformation products were predominantly obtained from the expected molecular scission. Moreover, a faster kinetics of degradation was measured for the ether analog as compared to methotrexate and its transformation products were far less cytotoxic.

Photodegradable Antimicrobial Agents: Synthesis and Mechanism of Degradation

As a strategy to inactivate antimicrobial agents after use, we designed a range of ethanolamine derivatives where four of them possessed interesting activity. The ethanolamine moiety facilitates photodecomposition, which in a potential drug will take place after use. Herein, the synthetic preparation of these compounds and the mechanism of photoinactivation are described.