A rapid microwave approach for ‘one-pot’ synthesis of antibiotic conjugated silver nanoparticles with antimicrobial activity against multi-drug resistant bacterial pathogens

Afolayan, J.S. ORCID: 0000-0001-9331-3636, Varney, A.M. ORCID: 0000-0002-5943-161X, Thomas, J.C. ORCID: 0000-0002-1599-9123, McLean, S. ORCID: 0000-0001-8551-4307 and Perry, C.C. ORCID: 0000-0003-1517-468X, 2025. A rapid microwave approach for ‘one-pot’ synthesis of antibiotic conjugated silver nanoparticles with antimicrobial activity against multi-drug resistant bacterial pathogens. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 245: 114280. ISSN 0927-7765

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Abstract

Deaths directly attributable to drug-resistant infections reached 1.27 million in 2019 and continue to rise. This escalating resistance to antibiotics has driven a resurgence in the exploration of ancient antimicrobials to develop efficacious alternatives. The modern field of nanomaterials is a promising area of research with silver nanoparticles performing well as antimicrobial agents due to their large surface area and multiple bacterial targets. In the current study antibiotic conjugated silver nanoparticles (3–35 nm) were synthesized using β-lactam antibiotic, ampicillin. The method of heating during synthesis either microwave (4 min) or convection (4 h) influenced the physical characteristics of the ampicillin coated silver nanoparticles, however both approaches produced nanomaterials with antimicrobial activity against a variety of multi-drug resistant (MDR) clinical isolates in physiologically relevant media (when present at <0.2–2.28 mg L 1 in defined media). Critically, the microwave method is five times faster than the traditional water bath method, allowing rapid synthesis of ampicillin-conjugated nanoparticles, which supports scale up processes for industry. We suggest that the combination of antibiotic and silver in these nanoparticles produces a synergistic effect that circumvents resistance mechanisms and has the potential to provide a new line of combinatorial agents able to treat multi-drug resistant infections.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces
Creators:	Afolayan, J.S., Varney, A.M., Thomas, J.C., McLean, S. and Perry, C.C.
Publisher:	Elsevier BV
Date:	January 2025
Volume:	245
ISSN:	0927-7765
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2024.114280 DOI S0927776524005393 Publisher Item Identifier 2244133 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	15 Oct 2024 10:18
Last Modified:	15 Oct 2024 10:18
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52410

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