Publication Date

April 2008

School

College of Arts and Sciences

Major

Biology: Pre-Med

Primary Subject Area

Biology, Microbiology

Keywords

triclosan, derivatives, antibiotic resistance, antiseptic resistance, bacteria, staphylococcus aureus, new organic compounds, research techniques, dissolving techniques

Abstract

Triclosan is an antimicrobial commonly used in many different antiseptics and everyday products. Unfortunately, many bacteria are now resistant to triclosan due to innate resistance, mutations in the fabI gene, and/or overexpression of certain other genes (soxS, marA, and an efflux pump encoded by acrAB). Therefore, it is essential that drugs be developed to destroy bacteria now resistant to triclosan. In this experiment, four different derivatives of triclosan were tested for antibacterial capabilities under the supervision of Dr. Hubbard at Liberty University. The derivatives were synthesized by Professor McGibbon (professor of organic chemistry at LU). Solutions of 4.0 ug/mL of each derivative were made and then tested against S. aureus for inhibition capabilities. Some of the derivatives seemed to have some inhibition capabilities, but none of them were as inhibitive as triclosan itself. Of special note, some of the results seem to indicate that the added benzene ring may inactivate triclosan’s antibacterial capabilities while the added chlorines provide at least some inhibition to S. aureus. Ultimately, the derivatives of triclosan did not have high inhibition rates at 4.0 ug/mL, but more experiments need to be performed in order to determine their effects at higher concentrations and on different species of bacteria. Hopefully, the data gathered and inferred from this experiment, including several valuable dissolving ratios and laboratory techniques which were discovered, will be implemented into future research on triclosan derivatives that will lead to the discovery of compounds even more inhibitive against bacteria growth than triclosan.

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