Graduation Year

2006

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Granting Department

Chemistry

Major Professor

Edward Turos, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Julie P. Harmon, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Bill J. Baker, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Kirpal S. Bisht, Ph.D.

Keywords

β-Lactam, Staphylococcus, Drug delivery, Nanoparticle

Abstract

N-Thiolated β-lactams represent a novel family of antibacterial agents, whose in vitro activity is confined largely to Staphylococcus species, including multidrug-resistant forms of S. aureus. N-Thiolated β-lactams have recently been shown to possess intriguing biological activities which are addressed in Chapter II. Current development of nanoparticles as a new drug delivery vehicle is described in Chapter III. Chapter IV and V described the current research in our laboratories focusing on the synthesis and characterization of emulsified polyacrylate/polyacrylamide nanoparticle antibacterials for drug delivery of water-insoluble antibiotics. These nanoparticles can be prepared in aqueous media directly from acrylate/acrylamide monomers through free radical microemulsion polymerization. These emulsions contain antibiotic-conjugated polyacrylate nanospheres measuring 30-60 nm in diameter and have enhanced antibacterial activity against drug resistant S. aureus (MRSA) through what we believe is a novel mechanism.

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