The Universitat Jaume I develops a new bactericidal material useful in hospital infections



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## The Universitat Jaume I develops a new bactericidal material useful in hospital infections

14/12/2016 |
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Image resource bactericida AliciaBeltranyFranciscoGalindo
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Image resource bactericida FranciscoGalindoyAliciaBeltran

* [![ bactericida AliciaBeltranyFranciscoGalindo](/com/noticies/2016/12/1q/bactericida/AliciaBeltranyFranciscoGalindo.jpg)](#)
* [![ bactericida FranciscoGalindoyAliciaBeltran](/com/noticies/2016/12/1q/bactericida/FranciscoGalindoyAliciaBeltran.jpg)](#)

Researchers from the Department of Inorganic and Organic Chemistry at the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) have developed a new bactericidal material that activates with light and that could be useful to combat the most common hospital infections. The results of this work led by the lecturer Francisco Galindo, in collaboration with the researcher Alicia Beltrán, have been published in the *Journal of Materials Chemistry*.

The new synthesized material is a molybdenum complex bonded to a polystyrene-type polymer. "It has been photochemically characterized and has been shown to be capable of generating singlet oxygen with high efficiency. In addition, preliminary tests have been done using this polymer to eliminate cultures of the bacterium *Staphylococcus aureus*, one of the more common causes of hospital infections," states Francisco Galindo. "The trials have been very promising, since virtually all of the bacteria exposed to the new material and light have been removed," he adds.

Bacteria, viruses and fungi are responsible for numerous pathologies. One of the multiple ways to eliminate these microorganisms is the so-called *photodynamic therapy*. This involves the use of certain substances that are activated with light. "After the irradiation, the so-called *reactive oxygen species* are generated, which destroy the pathogens," explains Galindo. The most common reactive oxygen species is *singlet oxygen*, which has traditionally been applied in photodynamic therapy for treatments of both skin infections and cancer, which operates under the same principles and instead of destroying microbes, it eliminates tumor cells.

**Preventive and therapeutic use**

The most immediate application of the new material developed by the UJI would be the bactericide, both at preventive and therapeutic level. In the preventive case the new material could be included in self-sterilizing objects by applying light, for example, surgical material. In the therapeutic case, dermatological treatments for skin pathologies, infections, and even skin cancer could be developed.

"The molybdenum-polystyrene material is in development stage in a chemical and microbiological laboratory. In fact, we are studying how other polymers influence as a support or what efficiency and stability do other molybdenum complexes have," the authors of the paper warn. In addition, they plan to study the photodynamic effect on other bacterial cultures. The application in real medical conditions is only in its initial phase and "we are already working with medical specialists to evaluate their efficiency in real conditions", notes Galindo, who also indicates that this study is funded by the UJI Research Promotion Plan and aims to find applications in photodynamic therapy for several non-conventional compounds.

**Antibacterial photodynamic therapy**

The main novelty is conceptual, given that the material developed is the first example of a molybdenum complex used for antibacterial photodynamic therapy. At present, the field is largely dominated by the family of porphyrins and phthalocyanines. A disadvantage of these materials is that they tend to aggregate and lose their efficiency, which is not the case with the photosensitizer studied. "Having demonstrated that molybdenum complexes have bactericidal activity means that there is a wide field to be explored, testing other compounds with different structures. In addition to the high efficiency in the destruction of bacteria, it has been observed that the polymer with molybdenum is very photostable, that is, it does not self-destruct with light, whereas other photosensitizers end up degrading after the application of light for long periods of time,” Galindo says.

The photosensitizer is the chemical that captures light and is capable of generating singlet oxygen destroying microbes or cancer cells. For this reason, a large part of the effort made by the scientific community to date has been to create new and more efficient photosensitizers. The vast majority of photosensitizers today belong to the group of porphyrins and phthalocyanines. Other families that have been developed are phenothiazines, xanthene dyes and semiconductor materials nanoparticles.

This research has been developed in a multidisciplinary way between three centers. The molybdenum photosensitizer complex has been synthesized in the group led by the lecturer Maxim Sokolov from the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The bacterial assays have been carried out within the group of Dr. Antonio Rezusta, from the Microbiology Department of Miguel Servet Hospital in Zaragoza. As for the Universitat Jaume I, the researcher Alicia Beltrán has linked the molybdenum complex to the polystyrene-type polymer, has characterized the new material and has performed the photochemical tests. The whole project has been coordinated by the lecturer Francisco Galindo, from the UJI Department of Inorganic and Organic Chemistry.

The Photochemistry and Sensors research group from the Department of Inorganic and Organic Chemistry at the Universitat Jaume I has as main lines of work the development of new photoactive materials generating singlet oxygen for therapeutic applications, as well as the synthesis of new fluorescent compounds for diagnostic applications.

Alicia Beltrán, Maxim Mikhailov, Maxim N. Sokolov, Vanesa Pérez-Laguna, Antonio Rezusta, María José Revillo, Francisco Galindo. *Journal of Materials Chemistry B*. Referencia: J. Mater. Chem. B, 2016, 4, 5975-5979 DOI: 10.1039/C6TB01966H.

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