Design of antibacterial peptide-like conjugated molecule with broad spectrum antimicrobial ability

Increasing multidrug-resistant (MDR) superbugs emerge worldwide causing a public health crisis. Consequently, it is urgent to find new antibiotics with efficient broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. By virtue of versatility in molecular design, a new peptide-like cell membrane-broken molecule, oligo-(7,7′-bifluoren-benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole) (OFBT) possessing a conjugated backbone and eight pendant guanidyl moieties was designed and synthesized. OFBT exhibits favorable broad-spectrum of antimicrobial activity to pathogens including Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, and fungi with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) below 3.0 μM. Moreover, OFBT exhibits high selectivity for pathogens over human cells to make it a promising broad spectrum antimicrobial agent.