Dialkyl 4, 4′-bipyridinium compounds are widely employed for their useful redox properties, and are commonly known as viologens due to their intense coloration upon reduction. Despite their prevalence and amphiphilic nature, the antibacterial activity of these compounds remains largely unreported. We have thus prepared a series of mono-and bis- alkylated analogs of 4, 4′-bipyridine to investigate structure–activity relationships in their ...