{"doi":"10.3390/molecules30040917","title":"New Cyclam-Based Fe(III) Complexes Coatings Targeting Cobetia marina Biofilms","abstract":"Recent research efforts to mitigate the burden of biofouling in marine environments have focused on the development of environmentally friendly coatings that can provide long-lasting protective effects. In this study, the antifouling performance of novel polyurethane (PU)-based coatings containing cyclam-based Fe(III) complexes against Cobetia marina biofilm formation was investigated. Biofilm assays were performed over 42 days under controlled hydrodynamic conditions that mimicked marine environments. Colony-forming units (CFU) determination and flow cytometric (FC) analysis showed that PU-coated surfaces incorporating 1 wt.% of complexes with formula [{R2(4-CF3PhCH2)2Cyclam}FeCl2]Cl (R = H, HOCH2CH2CH2) significantly reduced both culturable and total cells of C. marina biofilms up to 50% (R = H) and 38% (R = HOCH2CH2CH2) compared to PU-coated surface without complexes (control surface). The biofilm architecture was further analyzed using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), which showed that biofilms formed on the PU-coated surfaces containing cyclam-based Fe(III) complexes exhibited a significantly reduced thickness (58–61% reduction), biovolume (50–60% reduction), porosity (95–97% reduction), and contour coefficient (77% reduction) compared to the control surface, demonstrating a more uniform and compact structure. These findings were also supported by Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) images, which showed a decrease in biofilm surface coverage on PU-coated surfaces containing cyclam-based Fe(III) complexes. Moreover, FC analysis revealed that exposure to PU-coated surfaces increases bacterial metabolic activity and induces ROS production. These results underscore the potential of these complexes to incorporate PU-coated surfaces as bioactive additives in coatings to effectively deter long-term bacterial colonization in marine environments, thereby addressing biofouling-related challenges.","journal":"Molecules","year":2025,"id":533287,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":2,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9541,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1415177,"name":"Luciana C. Gomes","orcid":"0000-0002-8992-1097","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1415178,"name":"Rita Teixeira‐Santos","orcid":"0000-0001-7546-9362","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":667600,"name":"Ana P. Carapeto","orcid":"0000-0003-2654-6848","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1415179,"name":"Filipe J. Mergulhão","orcid":"0000-0001-5233-1037","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1415515,"name":"Stephanie Almada","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1415180,"name":"Elisabete R. Silva","orcid":"0000-0001-6679-4374","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1415181,"name":"Luís G. Alves","orcid":"0000-0002-7938-9850","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1415176,"name":"Fábio M. Carvalho","orcid":"0000-0002-3070-7571","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":51,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:51:32.301795Z","pmid":"40005227","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}