Antimicrobial

Materials science

Chain transfer

Biochemistry

Polymer

Combinatorial chemistry

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Radical polymerization

Sequence (biology)

Raft

Mathematics

Copolymer

Block (permutation group theory)

Geometry

Chemistry

Monomer

Angewandte Chemie International Edition

Synthetic polymers have shown promise in combating multidrug-resistant bacteria. However, the biological effects of sequence control in synthetic antimicrobial polymers are currently not well understood. As such, we investigate the antimicrobial effects of monomer distribution within linear high-order quasi-block copolymers consisting of aminoethyl, phenylethyl, and hydroxyethyl acrylamides made in a one-pot synthesis approach via photoinduced electron transfer–reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerisation (PET-RAFT). Through different combinations of monomer/polymer block order, antimicrobial and haemolytic activities are tuneable in a manner comparable to antimicrobial peptides.

Towards Sequence‐Controlled Antimicrobial Polymers: Effect of Polymer Block Order on Antimicrobial Activity