{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T22:12:32Z","timestamp":1789423952518,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,28]],"date-time":"2024-12-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1735344000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Nouvelle Aquitaine Region"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Silver drugs have played a vital role in human healthcare for the treatment of infections for many centuries. Currently, due to antibiotic resistance, a potential scenario or the application of silver complexes may arise as substitutes for conventional antibiotics. In this perspective, N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands have been selected as carrier molecules for silver ions. In this study, we selected two mono NHC-silver halide complexes: bromo[1,3-diethyl-4,5-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene]silver(I) (Ag4MC) and chloro[2-pyridin- N-(2-ethylacetylamido)-2-yl-2H-imidazol-2-ylidene]silver(I) (Ag5MC), and two cationic bis NHC silver complexes: bis[1,3-diethyl-4,5-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene]silver(I) (Ag4BC) and bis[2-pyridin-N-(2-ethylacetylamido)-2-yl-2H-imidazol-2-ylidene]silver(I) (Ag5BC). The inhibitory properties of the four complexes were evaluated for their antimicrobial potential against a set of Gram (+) and Gram (\u2212) bacterial strains and the fungus C. albicans. In addition, further investigations were made using fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to gain more insights into the mechanism of action. Some preliminary information on the Ag target was obtained by analyzing the cytosol of E. coli treated with Ag5MC by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules30010076","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,1]],"date-time":"2025-01-01T14:35:42Z","timestamp":1735742142000},"page":"76","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Antimicrobial Activity and Mode of Action of N-Heterocyclic Carbene Silver(I) Complexes"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"30","author":[{"given":"Giusy","family":"Castagliuolo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, University of Naples \u201cFederico II\u201d, Via Cynthia 26, 80126 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michela","family":"Di Napoli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, University of Naples \u201cFederico II\u201d, Via Cynthia 26, 80126 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tshering","family":"Zangmo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IPREM (Institut des Sciences Analytiques et de Physico-Chimie pour l\u2019Environnement et les Mat\u00e9riaux), CNRS, E2S UPPA, Universit\u00e9 de Pau et des Pays de l\u2019Adour, CEDEX 9, 64012 Pau, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5644-4933","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joanna","family":"Szpunar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IPREM (Institut des Sciences Analytiques et de Physico-Chimie pour l\u2019Environnement et les Mat\u00e9riaux), CNRS, E2S UPPA, Universit\u00e9 de Pau et des Pays de l\u2019Adour, CEDEX 9, 64012 Pau, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Luisa","family":"Ronga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IPREM (Institut des Sciences Analytiques et de Physico-Chimie pour l\u2019Environnement et les Mat\u00e9riaux), CNRS, E2S UPPA, Universit\u00e9 de Pau et des Pays de l\u2019Adour, CEDEX 9, 64012 Pau, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6689-8365","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anna","family":"Zanfardino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, University of Naples \u201cFederico II\u201d, Via Cynthia 26, 80126 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mario","family":"Varcamonti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, University of Naples \u201cFederico II\u201d, Via Cynthia 26, 80126 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1556-2562","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Diego","family":"Tesauro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy and Interuniversity Research Centre on Bioactive Peptides (CIRPeB), University of Naples \u201cFederico II\u201d, Via Montesano 49, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"629","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(21)02724-0","article-title":"Global Burden of Bacterial Antimicrobial Resistance in 2019: A Systematic Analysis","volume":"399","author":"Murray","year":"2022","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"eaau4679","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aau4679","article-title":"The Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance: What Economics Can Contribute","volume":"364","author":"Roope","year":"2019","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.12968\/jowc.2002.11.4.26389","article-title":"Silver I: It\u2019s antibacterial properties and mechanism of action","volume":"11","author":"Lansdown","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. 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