Assembly of Coordination Polymers Using Thioether-Functionalized Octasilsesquioxanes: Occurrence of (CuX)n Clusters (X=Br and I) within 3D-POSS Networks.

For the first time, POSS-based coordination polymers (CPs) have been structurally characterized. These CPs were obtained in high yield via self-assembly reactions of thioether-functionalized polysilsesquioxanes with CuI salts under mild conditions. Single crystal analyses revealed the formation of 3D networks incorporating different secondary building units (SBUs) as connection nodes. The nature of the -SAr functionality allows a fine-tuning of the cluster nuclearity, that is, butterfly-shaped Cu2 X2 or closed cubane-type Cu4 I4 cores. As such, the resulting hybrid materials exhibit a combination of high thermal stability arising from the inorganic POSS core along with interesting luminescent properties conferred by the cubane cluster core. Furthermore, the occurrence of channels has been shown crystallographically in the case of the Cu4 I4 cluster containing CP.

Site-specific grafting on titanium surfaces with hybrid temporin antibacterial peptides.

Relying on a membrane-disturbing mechanism of action and not on any intracellular target, antimicrobial peptides (AMP) are attractive compounds to be grafted on the surface of implantable materials such as silicone catheters or titanium surgical implants. AMP sequences often display numerous reactive functions (e.g. amine, carboxylic acid) on their side chains and straightforward conjugation chemistries could lead to uncontrolled covalent grafting, random orientation, and non-homogenous density. To achieve an easy and site specific covalent attachment of unprotected peptides on titanium surfaces, we designed hybrid silylated biomolecules based on the temporin-SHa amphipathic helical antimicrobial sequence. With the grafting reaction being chemoselective, we designed five analogues displaying the silane anchoring function at the N-ter, C-ter or at different positions inside the sequence to get an accurate control of the orientation. Grafting density calculations were performed by XPS and the influence of the orientation of the peptide on the surface was clearly demonstrated by the measure of antimicrobial activity. Temporin amphipathic helices are described to permeabilize the bacterial membrane by interacting in a parallel orientation with it. Our results move in the direction of this mechanism as the selective grafting of hybrid temporin 2 through a lysine placed at the center of the peptide sequence, resulted in better biofilm growth inhibition of E. coli and S. epidermis than substrates in which temporins were grafted via their C- or N-terminus.