Antibacterial oxygen-sulfur terminal polymers from a facile initiator-strategy

Bacterial infection has become a long-term concern that seriously threatens human health. However, the application of conventional antibacterial materials in antibacterial treatment and infection prevention has been severely hindered due to their limitations such as complex synthesis, high cost, and high cytotoxicity. Therefore, developing a facile and cost-effective route to prepare high-performance antibacterial materials is of urgent need and significant importance. In this work, we for the first time reported that oxygen-sulfur terminal bonds possess excellent antibacterial properties, and the oxygen-sulfur terminal polymer (OSTP) can effectively kill bacteria when contacting and interacting with the bacteria. A universal and simple initiator strategy has been developed to fabricate OSTPs through a facile solution polymerization process. Via this approach, the PEGDA-APS OSTPs exhibited superfast and superior antibacterial properties against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria while maintaining good hemocompatibility and cytocompatibility, outperforming many common antibacterial agents that usually require several hours of bacterial extinction. Moreover, it is demonstrated that OSTPs exhibited excellent antibacterial activity in a wide range of application situations, including textile, medicine, washing, food, and coating, as well as antibacterial hydrogels.