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Article

Mechanistic Study of Synergistic Antimicrobial Effects between Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) Oligomer and Polyethylene Glycol

1
Research Center for Smart Wearable Technology, Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
2
Department of Health Technology and Informatics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Polymers 2020, 12(11), 2735; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112735
Received: 2 November 2020 / Revised: 16 November 2020 / Accepted: 16 November 2020 / Published: 18 November 2020
Extended from our previous finding that poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) oligomer is an effective antimicrobial agent against gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, fungi and multi-drug resistant bacteria, this work investigates the effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the antimicrobial effect of PHB oligomer. To investigate and explain this promoting phenomenon, three hypothetic mechanisms were proposed, that is, generation of new antimicrobial components, degradation of PHB macromolecules and dissolution/dispersion of PHB oligomer by PEG. With a series of systematic experiments and characterizations of high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), it was deducted that PEG promotes the antimicrobial effect of PHB oligomer synergistically through dissolution/dispersion, owing to its amphipathy, which improves the hydrophilicity of PHB oligomer. View Full-Text
Keywords: poly (3-hydroxybutyric acid); oligomer; polyethylene glycol; antimicrobial agent; synergistic antimicrobial effect poly (3-hydroxybutyric acid); oligomer; polyethylene glycol; antimicrobial agent; synergistic antimicrobial effect
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MDPI and ACS Style

Zhang, Z.; Li, J.; Ma, L.; Yang, X.; Fei, B.; Leung, P.H.M.; Tao, X. Mechanistic Study of Synergistic Antimicrobial Effects between Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) Oligomer and Polyethylene Glycol. Polymers 2020, 12, 2735. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112735

AMA Style

Zhang Z, Li J, Ma L, Yang X, Fei B, Leung PHM, Tao X. Mechanistic Study of Synergistic Antimicrobial Effects between Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) Oligomer and Polyethylene Glycol. Polymers. 2020; 12(11):2735. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112735

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhang, Ziheng, Jun Li, Linlin Ma, Xingxing Yang, Bin Fei, Polly H.M. Leung, and Xiaoming Tao. 2020. "Mechanistic Study of Synergistic Antimicrobial Effects between Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) Oligomer and Polyethylene Glycol" Polymers 12, no. 11: 2735. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112735

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