By Sam Lemonick
Quirky chemical compounds called ionic liquids can defeat the tricky defenses of bacteria and skin and help bring antibiotics to infections that can lead to discomfort, amputations and sometimes death, a new study finds.
“This work is a further demonstration of the potential of ionic liquids not only as a source of much needed chemical diversity in the hunt for new designer antimicrobial agents but also to enhance the activity of conventional antimicrobial agents,” says Brendan Gilmore, a microbiologist at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland. “The promise of using ionic liquids to enhance the activity of antibiotics may increase their useful lifetime in the face of emerging resistance.”