Pang, Z., Ren, N., Wu, Y. et al. (6 more authors) (2023) Tuning Ligands Ratio Allows for Controlling Gold Nanocluster Conformation and Activating a Nonantimicrobial Thiol Fragrance for Effective Treatment of MRSA-induced Keratitis. Advanced Materials. 2303562. ISSN 0935-9648
Abstract
Bacterial keratitis is a serious ocular disease that affects millions of people worldwide each year, among which ≈25% are caused by Staphylococcus aureus. With the spread of bacterial resistance, refractory keratitis caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) affects ≈120 000–190 000 people annually and is a significant cause of infectious blindness. Atomically precise gold nanoclusters (GNCs) recently emerged as promising antibacterial agents; although how the GNC structure and capping ligands control the antibacterial properties remains largely unexplored. In this study, by adjusting the ratio of a “bulky” thiol fragrance to a linear zwitterionic ligand, the GNC conformation is transformed from Au25(SR)18 to Au23(SR)16 species, simultaneously converting both inactive thiol ligands into potent antibacterial nanomaterials. Surprisingly, mixed-ligand capped Au23(SR)16 GNCs exhibit superior antibacterial potency compared to their monoligand counterparts. The optimal GNC is highly potent against MRSA, showing >1024-fold lower minimum inhibitory concentration than the corresponding free ligands. Moreover, it displays excellent potency in treating MRSA-induced keratitis in mice with greatly accelerated corneal recovery (by approximately ninefold). Thus, this study establishes a feasible method to synthesize antibacterial GNCs by adjusting the ligand ratio to control GNC conformation and active non-antibacterial ligands, thereby greatly increasing the repertoires for combating multidrug-resistant bacterial infections.
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an author produced version of an article published in Advanced Materials. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. | ||||||
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Institution: | The University of Leeds | ||||||
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Inorganic Chemistry (Leeds) | ||||||
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Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications | ||||||
Date Deposited: | 24 Aug 2023 16:17 | ||||||
Last Modified: | 20 Sep 2023 08:16 | ||||||
Published Version: | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/a... | ||||||
Status: | Published online | ||||||
Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell | ||||||
Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202303562 |
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