Mechanistic insights into hydrophobicity-dependent antimicrobial selectivity of quaternary ammonium poly(oxanorborneneimide) polymers using coarse-grained simulations

Key Points

• This research aims to understand how hydrophobicity affects the antimicrobial selectivity of specific polymers.
• Used coarse-grained simulations to analyze polymer interactions with membranes.
• Compared the effects on bacterial membranes versus human red blood cell membranes.
• Hydrophobicity influences antimicrobial selectivity of quaternary ammonium polymers.
• Highly hydrophobic polymers showed non-selective toxicity towards both bacterial and human RBC membranes.