Antibiotic-Like Behaviour of Polyoxometalates In vitro comparative study: seven polyoxotungstates - nine antibiotics against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria

Knowing acquired antibiotic resistance of bacteria, discovery of new antibacterial compounds is an important goal. Herein, seven polyoxometalates with tungsten were synthesized by a single-step self-assembling method. The pseudo-Keggin/sandwich series of tungstobismuthates were characterized by analytical techniques including atomic absorption, thermal analysis, UV and FT-IR, spectroscopy. Their antibacterial activity were investigated against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and against a Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain isolated by us, comparatively with nine classic antibiotics. We found that five polyoxotungstates had significant antibacterial activity at the tested concentrations. Our results demonstrate antibiotic-like behaviors of these nanocompounds and their strong antimicrobial activity, and recommend them as alternative chemotherapeutics agents.