Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance has become a global health threat, killing more than 10 million human lives annually. Many medical conditions (joint replacements, organ transplants, cancer therapy, and the treatment of chronic diseases like diabetes, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis) are dependent on a wide range of antibiotics to fight infections. If antibiotics lose their effectiveness due to resistance mechanisms of microbes, we lose the ability to treat infections. To circumvent the issues, the development of novel antibiotic materials is a major goal worldwide. In this scenario, ionic liquid-based antimicrobials are promising. The bactericidal properties of ionic liquids can be tailored by proper selection of ions (cations/ anions) during synthesis and optimizing alkyl chain length of cations. Covalent tethering of functional groups on different components of ionic liquid is also practiced globally to impart antimicrobial properties to biocompatible ionic liquids. Current review focused on ionic liquid based antimicrobial strategies.

Keywords:Ionic Liquids; Anions; Cations; Antimicrobial; Antifungal; Antiviral; Antibacterial