The purpose of this study was to investigate the antibacterial activity of newly developed cationic amphiphilic lipids having porphyrin as head group against two types of gram-positive bacteria and three types of gramnegative bacteria. The antibacterial activity of quantitatively prepared porphyrin-based amphiphilic lipids is evaluated by the disc-diffusion method against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus vulgaris. These results are compared with the standard antibacterial activity of chloramphenicol. Both lipids showed antibacterial behaviour against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.