Novel antibacterial pullulan derivatives modified with quaternary phosphonium salts for infected wound treatments.

The development of novel antibacterial agents is urgently needed to tackle bacterial infection, the major global issue menacing human health. Among them, polymeric quaternary phosphonium salts are worth noticing owing to their strong antibacterial activities and other merits including low bacterial drug resistance. Herein, pullulan modified with quaternary phosphonium salts (PQP) was synthesized using esterification reactions of pullulan and (5-carboxypentyl)triphenylphosphonium bromide (CPTPPB) mediated by N,N'‑carbonyldiimidazole (CDI), and was evaluated as novel antibacterial agents for treating wound infection for the first time.

Composite antibacterial hydrogels based on two natural products pullulan and ε-poly-l-lysine for burn wound healing.

Antibacterial hydrogels as burn wound dressings are capable of efficaciously defending against bacterial infection and accelerating burn wound healing. Thus far, a large plethora of antibacterial hydrogels have adopted numerous components and intricate preparation processes, yet restricting their practical industrialization applications. Simple and effective preparation methods of antibacterial hydrogels are hence urgently needed.