A study of the antibacterial activity of l-Phenylalanine and l-Tyrosine esters in relation to their CMCs and their interactions with 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, DPPC as model membrane

Cationic amino acid-based surfactants are known to interact with the lipid bilayer of cell membranes resulting in depolarization, lysis and cell death through a disruption of the membrane topology. A range of cationic surfactant analogues derived from l-Phenylalanine (C1–C20) and l-Tyrosine (C8–C14) esters have been synthesized and screened for their antibacterial activity. The esters were more active against gram positive than gram negative bacteria. The activity increased with increasing chain length, exhibiting a cut-off effect at C12 for gram positive and C8/C10 for gram negative bacteria. The cut-off effect for gram negative bacteria was observed at a lower alkyl chain length. The CMC was correlated with the MIC, inferring that micellar activity contribute to the cut-off effect in antibacterial activity. The interaction of the cationic surfactants with the phospholipid vesicles (1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, DPPC) in the presence of 1-anilino-8-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS) and 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) as fluorescence probes showed that an increase in ionic interaction causes an increase in antibacterial activity. Increase in hydrophobic interaction increases the antibacterial activity only to a certain chain length, attributing to the cut-off effect. Therefore, both electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions, involving the polar and nonpolar moieties are of paramount importance for the bactericidal properties.

The cationic surfactant interacts with the phospholipid by electrostatic interaction between negative phosphate group and cationic head group while the hydrophobic tails interact with the lipid alkyl chain through hydrophobic interactions.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide