Doctoral Themes - Proposals

Engineering novel camphor-derived complexes with antimicrobial activity for prosthetic applications

Supervisors

Maria Fernanda N N Carvalho, fcarvalho@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Marta M. Alves, martamalves@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Registration Institution

Instituto Superior Técnico (Universidade de Lisboa)

Project description

Infections by microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, viruses) are the cause of pathologies that can pose a serious threat to human life and place great pressure on health systems (e.g. SARS-CoV-2) both from the point of view of human and financial resources. That is why the search and identification of compounds with antimicrobial properties is so important. Studies made so far, show that coordination compounds with camphor-derived ligands have high antimicrobial potential and can be used as antibacterial and/or antifungal agents in composites for prosthetic materials or as coatings for medical devices. Based on the knowledge acquired so far, this project aims to synthesize and characterize coordination compounds with transition metals (e.g. Ag, Au, Cu) and use them to prepare and characterize composites from ceramic materials (e.g. hydroxyapatite), polymeric (PCL, etc.) or as coating of prosthetic materials (steel, etc.). It is, therefore, a transdisciplinary project that allows acquisition of skills in the areas of synthesis (organic and inorganic), materials design, advanced characterization techniques of molecules (NMR, ESI-MS, X-rays, etc.) and surfaces (SEM, TEM, others) complemented by strategies regarding the evaluation of the biological activity of compounds. Taking into consideration the requirements of the project, the supervisors are in the areas of synthesis and characterization of compounds (MFNNC) and characterization of solids and surfaces (MMA). The determination of the biological activity of the coordination compounds / composites and surfaces will be carried out in collaboration with iBB and C2TN.

Keywords

Antimicrobial properties; Coatings; Composites; Coordination compounds; Synthesis

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