Figure 1.

Chemical structure of the antimicrobial peptide Gr, the antimicrobial lipid DODAB, and the polymer polystyrene sulfate (PSS) used to build the cationic biomimetic NPs evaluated in this work regarding their antimicrobial properties. The industrial process for obtaining PSS employs potassium peroxydisulfate (KPS) as initiator for the polymerization of styrene. In water solution, KPS dissociates to give sulfate radicals. The sulfate radical adds to the alkene moiety of styrene forming the radical sulfate ester ●CHPhCH₂OSO₃^- that adds further alkenes via formation of C–C bonds to yield PSS. Thus, the sulfate moieties are covalently linked to polystyrene in PSS at the polymer chain terminus.