Table 9.

Most representative ammonium-terminated antibacterial Ds and some of their variations developed in the last decade and antibacterial activity of the most effective ones among the synthetized series.

Dendrimer Structure	Proposed Mechanism	HC50 (μg/mL)	Cytotoxicity IC50 (μg/mL)	Target Bacteria	Activity (μg/mL)
G2-G3 Ammonium-terminated carbosilane Ds [60]	Membrane impairments and disruption	N.D.	N.D.	E. coli S. aureus E. coli S. aureus	MIC 16 4 MBC 32 8
G2 Ammonium-terminated Ds [97]	Electrostatic binding CM permeabilization	1024 <10% HC	N.D.	E. coli S. aureus	MBC99.9 3–8 4
G0-G2 Ammonium-terminated Ds [99]	Electrostatic binding Membrane damage Membrane disruption Leakage of cell contents	N.D.	N.D.	E. coli ATCC	MIC μg/mL; μM 0.9; 0.26 (G1) 1–16; 0.12–2 (G2) MBC μg/mL/μM 4–8; 1.1–2.3 (G1) N.D. (G2)
G1-G2 ammonium-terminated carbosilane dendrons 3(G1), 4(G2) G1-G2 ammonium-terminated carbosilane dendron nanocomposites 11(3G1), 15(3G2) G1-G2 ammonium-terminated carbosilane dendron nanocomposites 14(4G1), 16(4G2) [100]	Electrostatic binding Membrane damage Membrane disruption Leakage of cell contents	N.D.	N.D.	E. coli	MIC/MBC 16/16 (3) 4/8 (4) 16/16 (11) 16/16 (15) 16/32 (14) 4/4 (16)
				S. aureus	128/128 (3) 8/4-8 (4) 64/64 (11) 32/64 (15) 16/16-32 (14) 4-8/8 (16)
Ammonium-terminated Ru- and Zn encased Pcs Ds (RuPc, RuPc1, ZnPc, ZnPc1) [101]	Photoinactivating activity Oxidative stress induction by 1O2	N.D.	N.D.	E. coli	↓ 6-log10 (μM) ZnPc1 5 1 ZnPc 2.5 1
				S. aureus	ZnPc1 1 2 ZnPc 1 2

D(s) = dendrimer(s); N.D. = Not determined; ¹ upon red light radiation of 30 J cm⁻²; ² upon red light radiation of 60 J cm⁻².