Synergistic Properties of Selected Compounds with Antibiotics—Spectroscopic and Biological Studies

Dear Colleagues,

Excessive antibiotic therapy means that the growing problem of diseases caused by various fungal infections is increasingly present, and it also increases the number of highly drug-resistant strains. This makes it necessary either to search for new compounds with a specific pharmacological effect or to look for ways to improve the performance of drugs that are already used. One very effective way to enhance the performance of pharmaceuticals that already exist is to combine therapies with several different drugs to determine their mutual synergistic properties. Here, of course, we can create many different combinations, whether among already-known pharmaceuticals or by combining known pharmaceuticals with newly obtained drugs through chemical syntheses. It has become extremely promising, among other methods, to create synergistic compositions of antibiotics that have been used for years, e.g., polyene or azole drugs with newly obtained compounds of various types. Such compositions show very promising effects in relation to many fungal strains, including extremely drug-resistant ones. However, even the biological effect of some compositions is generally known, there is a lot to be done in terms of spectroscopic effects so that the exact mechanisms of the molecular action of such compositions can be established. The development of modern spectroscopic techniques, especially fluorescence, allows research topics to be explored more thoroughly than ever before. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that affect the better functioning of a given drug composition is an extraordinary opportunity to solve the growing problem caused by fungal infections. This in turn brings us closer to creating new medicines that can be effectively placed on the market and used in hospital treatments.

Therefore, this Special Issue is dedicated mainly to subjects related to the phenomenon of action of various synergistic compositions. By this, we mean not only antibiotics or compounds listed in the title of the issue but any kind of similar composition. We strongly encourage you to submit works related to the topics mentioned above in combination with model biological systems such as liposomal systems, micellar systems, aquatic environments, complexes with selected rare earth metal ions, nanoparticles, etc. Our primary interest is in new topics related to compositions exhibiting the synergistic properties of various molecules and in review articles related to any issue from the keywords or a given description. We encourage submissions that include spectroscopic methods from the most basic to the most advanced, as well as contemporary ones, and we welcome work supported with DFT, [TD]DFT quantum chemistry calculations, and crystallographic results, although this is not a prerequisite. In addition, works containing the results of biological research, which may show given molecules and, above all, their combinations showing synergism, are also very welcome. Most of all, we are looking for works in which the authors try to combine spectroscopic and biological properties and approach the problem in a multithreaded way. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to send experimental works that are spectroscopic, theoretical, biological, or contain all of these aspects combined.

Dr. Arkadiusz Matwijczuk
Prof. Dr. Mariusz Gagoś
Guest Editors

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