Antibacterial activity of methylated chitosan and chitooligomer derivatives: Synthesis and structure activity relationships

The purpose of this study was to synthesize series of methylated chitosaccharide derivatives, possessing various degree of methylation, and to determine their structure activity relationship (SAR) with regard to their antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus. Chitosan polymer and chitooligomers were used as starting materials and were methylated by reaction with methyl iodide. Depending on the reaction conditions the degree of N-quaternization ranged from 0% to 74%, with varying degree of N,N-dimethylation, N-monomethylation and O-methylation. More selective N-quaternization could be obtained with protection group strategy. At pH 5.5 the chitosaccharide polymers and their methylated derivatives were active against S. aureus with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 16 to 512 μg/mL. At pH 7.2 the non-quaternized derivatives were inactive but their highly N-quaternized derivatives showed MIC as low as 8 μg/mL. The chitooligomers, as well as their derivatives, were inactive at both pH’s. The SAR studies revealed that N-quaternization was mainly responsible for the antibacterial effects at pH 7.2, whereas it did not contribute to the antibacterial activity under acidic conditions.