Investigation into Amine Polyynes for Antibacterial Properties

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in today’s society. Many new antibiotics are derived versions of pre-existing antibiotics, which allows for antibiotic resistance to arise. To combat this issue, it is crucial to elucidate novel antibiotics with unique core structures and mechanisms of action. Asymmetric polyacetylenes have been isolated from natural products, and they have previously been demonstrated to exhibit antimicrobial and antibacterial activity. Solid-supported chemistry was utilized to efficiently synthesize a library of polyynes in a chemoselective fashion. Specifically, amine derivatives of the previously discovered biologically active polyynes were prepared and assessed for biological activity. Many of these compounds displayed improved activity in bacterial viability assays and may be a promising avenue for the development of novel antibiotics. Further investigation is needed to pinpoint the specific structural components that elicit biological activity.ChemistryBachelors of Science (BS