Facile and scalable synthesis of topologically nanoengineered polypeptides with excellent antimicrobial activities

Abstract

A facile and scalable strategy for the quick library synthesis of linear-, hinged-, star-, and cyclic-polypeptides with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity has been reported. The topologically nanoengineered polypeptides show superior antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and low toxicity, allowing screening of architectural polypeptides as mimics of host defense peptides for antimicrobials.