A novel sulfur-rich antimicrobial material developed by researchers at Flinders University could offer a new approach to tackling antimicrobial resistance, a growing global health and food security threat.
The study, ‘A poly(trisulfide) oligomer with antimicrobial activity‘, is published in Chemical Science and was undertaken by a multidisciplinary research team led by Flinders University and including experts from the UK.
“Importantly, the antimicrobial does not harm human or plant cells, so it has potential in medicine and agriculture,” says Professor Justin Chalker.
“The new antimicrobial is a sulfur-rich polymer material, which overcomes previous limitations in sulfur-based preparations and shows impressive potency against a variety of fungal and bacterial pathogens.”
In a recently released statement Flinders University says “elemental sulfur and other sulfur-based molecules have long been used as antimicrobials but are often malodorous (strong smelling) and difficult to formulate due to limited solubility”.
Lead author Dr Jasmine Pople says sulfur-based chemistry is a promising approach to developing next-generation antimicrobial agents.
“Antimicrobial resistance, particularly in fungal pathogens, is an increasing clinical and agricultural threat,” she says.
“It has the potential in future to be part of effective, low-cost medicines and broad-scale agrichemical solutions,” says Dr Pople, who first discovered the antimicrobial activity while on an Australian Research Council exchange at collaborator Dr Tom Hasell Lab at the University of Liverpool in 2024.
According to Flinders University “work on the material has since been expanded across multiple pathogenic strains, with input from other Flinders University experts — including virologist Professor Jillian Carr — and additional funding from a Flinders Foundation Health Seed Grant”.
Coauthor microbiologist Associate Professor Bart Eijkelkamp says the integration of advanced chemical synthesis with comprehensive biological evaluation across key pathogens has strengthened the results.
Professor Chalker says the antimicrobial polymer development at Flinders University joins a wide range of sustainable efforts to convert sulfur into value-added materials — including sulfur-rich materials to remove gold from electronic waste, heavy metal remediation and even infrared optical lenses for a fraction of the cost.