Molecular and Aggregate Structures of Antimicrobial Surfactants

To confront the rapid increase of drug-resistant bacteria, it is urgent and necessary to develop novel antimicrobial agents. Synthetic surfactants are important members of the antimicrobial agent family, and they usually show excellent abilities because the formed aggregates can efficiently target microbial membranes and destroy them. Some commercial antimicrobial surfactant products, such as benzalkonium chloride, MiraMistin, and cetrimide, etc., play indispensable roles in daily life. In recent years, more novel antimicrobial surfactants or complexes have been developed. In this chapter, we provide an extensive summary of all kinds of antimicrobial surfactants. Single-chain surfactants with one or multiple headgroups, gemini and oligomeric surfactants with two or more hydrophobic chains and headgroups, antimicrobial surfactants based on amino acid and peptide, surfactant-participated supramolecular antimicrobial systems, and antimicrobial complexes are all included. The relationship of molecular and aggregate structures of surfactants with their antimicrobial activities has been specially discussed. Finally, we list several questions that need to be solved and discuss future research directions that remain either unexploited or underexploited.