The self-associative properties and therapeutic applications of chiral Supramolecular Self-Associating Amphiphiles

Reports estimate that globally, antimicrobial resistance directly caused 1.27 million deaths and indirectly caused 4.95 million deaths in 2019, while cancer directly caused 9.9 million deaths in 2020. With a growing resistance to current antibiotics and cancer treatments, there is an imperative need for new antimicrobial and anticancer agents to tackle this crisis. Supramolecular Self-associating Amphiphiles (SSAs) are a class of amphiphilic salts with the ability to undergo hydrogen bonded self-association and have been previously reported to act as both antimicrobial and anticancer agents. The SSA observed to have the greatest antimicrobial and anticancer activity was subsequently modified to create eight novel SSA compounds. Investigations into the physicochemical and self-associative properties of these novel compounds were conducted in the solid phase, gaseous phase and in solution using various techniques including quantitative 1H NMR, mass spectrometry, tensiometry, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential and circular dichroism. Initial results showed that the novel compounds showed better antimicrobial and anticancer activity than the SSA they were derived from.