The global occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes in bacteria in water environments is an increasing concern. Treated wastewater was sampled daily over a 45 day period from the outflow of a municipal wastewater treatment plant in Brno, Czech Republic, and examined for extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria. Water samples were cultivated on MacConkey agar with cefotaxime (2 mg/L) and individual colonies were examined for ESBL production. Phenotypic ESBL-positive bacteria identified as Escherichia coli or Klebsiella spp. were tested for the presence of antibiotic resistance genes, the virulence gene afa/dra and the bla_CTX-M upstream region. Genetic relatedness was analysed by PFGE, multilocus sequence typing and plasmid analysis. A total of 68 ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates were detected in 34 out of 45 wastewater samples. ESBL-producing isolates included 26 E. coli isolates, 4 Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates and 1 Klebsiella oxytoca isolate. The pandemic and multiresistant B2-O25b-ST131 clone was predominant, being detected among 19 E. coli isolates, and 17 of the B2-O25b-ST131 isolates were positive for the FIA replicon and the afa/dra operon and had an IS26 element flanking bla_CTX-M-15. Seventeen of the B2-O25b-ST131 isolates showed closely related PFGE profiles (defined by 84% band similarity) and belonged to identical clonal groups. The results highlight the inadequacy of the treatment process in removing multiresistant bacteria from municipal wastewater and point to a risk of transmission of clinically important multiresistant strains, such as the pandemic ST131 clone, to the environment. This is the first study demonstrating the pandemic ST131 clone in wastewater.

Two new bioactive silver–organic frameworks [Ag(μ₃-PTAS)]_n(NO₃)_n·nH₂O (1) and [Ag₄(μ₄-PTAS)(μ₅-PTAS)(μ₂-SO₄)₂(H₂O)₂]_n·2nH₂O (2) were easily assembled, thus opening up the application of PTAS as a versatile N,S-building block in the crystal engineering of MOFs. The obtained products reveal infinite 3D networks driven by multiply bridging PTAS spacers that adopt unprecedented N₂S-coordination modes. The topological analysis of 1 discloses an uninodal 3-connected net with the srs (SrSi₂) topology, whereas 2 features a pentanodal 3,4,5-connected net with a hitherto undocumented topology. Apart from representing the first MOFs derived from PTAS, the compounds 1 and 2 display notable antibacterial and antifungal activities.

The new, water soluble, aminomethylphosphines were synthesized from P(CH₂OH)₃ and alkylpiperazines: P(CH₂N(CH₂CH₂)₂NCH₃)₃ (1) and P(CH₂N(CH₂CH₂)₂NCH₂CH₃)₃ (2). Described already in literature P(CH₂N(CH₂CH₂)₂O)₃ (3) were also obtained. The spectroscopic ¹H, ³¹P and ¹³C NMR analyses and crystallographic studies of 1, 2 and 3 demonstrate that all these compounds have similar structures and spectroscopic properties, which almost do not depend on aliphatic rings in the molecules. Heteroleptic copper(I) iodide complexes with phosphines mentioned above and 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy): [CuI(bpy)P(CH₂N(CH₂CH₂)₂NCH₃)₃] (1B), [CuI(bpy)P(CH₂N(CH₂CH₂)₂NCH₂CH₃)₃] (2B), [CuI(bpy)P(CH₂N(CH₂CH₂)₂O)₃] (3B) or 1,10-phenanthroline (phen): [CuI(phen)P(CH₂N(CH₂CH₂)₂NCH₃)₃] (1P), [CuI(phen)P(CH₂N(CH₂CH₂)NCH₂CH₃)₃] (2P), [CuI(phen)P(CH₂N(CH₂CH₂)₂O)₃] (3P) were also synthesized. All complexes were characterized by ¹H, ³¹P and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy also. Molecular structures of 1P·PhCH₃ and 3P·0.5Cu₂I₂(phen)₂ were determined from single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. Upon excitation at 470 nm, all complexes in the solid state exhibit red photoluminescence due to charge transfer transition. The luminescence of phen complexes is higher than the luminescence of bpy ones. The presented phosphines and copper(I) complexes were screened for their in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activity against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus strains and Candida albicans. All the copper complexes exhibit significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus strains. The activity of 1,10-phenanthroline complexes is higher than 2,2′-bipyridine complexes.