P. Gilbert, A. Al-Taae
Jun 1, 1985
Citations
0
Influential Citations
70
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Letters in Applied Microbiology
Abstract
n‐Alkyltrimethylammonium bromides (CnTAB) have been synthesized with n‐alkyl chain lengths of between C5 and C22. Antimicrobial activity was assessed as growth inhibitory activity (MIC) towards seven representative strains of micro‐organisms and as bacterial activity towards Staphylococcus aureus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These data indicated that whilst the level of activity was generally parabolically related to n‐alkyl chain length, separate dependencies existed for short (n < 10) and long (n > 10) chain substituents, with disproportionately large increases in activity, in the order of three log cycles, occurring as substituent chain lengths increased from n = 10 to n = 12. This is interpreted in terms of distinct mechanisms of action, binding site and/or physicochemical properties for extreme members of the series.