International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents
Volume 33, Issue 5 , Pages 469-472, May 2009

Antimicrobial activity of an iron triple helicate

  • Adair D. Richards

      Affiliations

    • Molecular Organisation and Assembly in Cells DTC, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
  • ,
  • Alison Rodger

      Affiliations

    • Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
  • ,
  • Michael J. Hannon

      Affiliations

    • School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
  • ,
  • Albert Bolhuis

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +44 1225 383 813.

Received 21 August 2008; accepted 30 October 2008. published online 21 January 2009.

Abstract 

The prevalence of antibiotic resistance has resulted in the need for new approaches to be developed to combat previously easily treatable infections. Here we investigated the potential of the synthetic metallomolecules [Fe2L3]4+ and [Cu2(L’)2]2+ as antibacterial agents. Both molecules have been shown to bind DNA; [Fe2L3]4+ binds in the major groove and causes DNA coiling, whilst [Cu2(L’)2]2+ can act as an artificial nuclease. The work described here shows that only [Fe2L3]4+ is bactericidal for Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli. We demonstrate that [Fe2L3]4+ binds bacterial DNA in vivo and, strikingly, that it kills B. subtilis cells very rapidly.

Keywords: Metallomolecule, Helicate, DNA binding, Major groove binder, Antimicrobial

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PII: S0924-8579(08)00577-3

doi:10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2008.10.031

International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents
Volume 33, Issue 5 , Pages 469-472, May 2009