"Clicking" an Ionic Liquid to a Potent Antimicrobial Peptide: On the Route towards Improved Stability.

A covalent conjugate between an antibacterial ionic liquid and an antimicrobial peptide was produced via "click" chemistry, and found to retain the parent peptide's activity against multidrug-resistant clinical isolates of Gram-negative bacteria, and antibiofilm action on a resistant clinical isolate of Klebsiella pneumoniae, while exhibiting much improved stability towards tyrosinase-mediated modifications. This unprecedented communication is a prelude for the promise held by ionic liquids -based approaches as tools to improve the action of bioactive peptides.