M. Wainwright et al., A COMPARISON OF THE BACTERICIDAL AND PHOTOBACTERICIDAL ACTIVITIES OF AMINOACRIDINES AND BIS(AMINOACRIDINES), Letters in applied microbiology, 26(6), 1998, pp. 404-406
An attempt was made to increase the activity of some antibacterial acr
idines in two ways: (a) via the use of bis-aminacrines (analogues of 1
,6-bis-[9-acridinamins]hexane), in order to increase the potential for
DNA intercalation and (b) via photoactivation, as several acridines a
re known to produce the cytotoxin singlet oxygen on irradiation. The b
actericidal activity of the simple aminoacridines was much higher than
that of the corresponding bis-acridine compounds. In addition, on low
-power illumination of the compounds in liquid culture, many of the mo
nomeric compounds exhibited marked increases in activity against both
Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, whereas the bis-acridines sh
owed little or no increase.