Novel compounds, called liamocins from Aureobasidium pullulans, having the general structure in Formula 1 are disclosed. where R1 is either COCH3 or H; and R2 is between two to ten O-linked 3,5-dihydroxydecanoate; and R3 can be a polyol (e.g., L- or D-glycerol, L- or D-threitol, L- or D-erythritol, L- or D-arabitol, L- or D-xylitol, L- or D-lyxitol, L- or D-ribitol, L- or D-allitol, L- or D-altritol, L- or D-mannitol, L- or D-iditol, L- or D-gulitol, L- or D-glucitol (also called sorbitol), L- or D-galactitol (also called dulcitol), and L- or D-talitol), 2-amino-D-mannitol, 2N-acetylamino-D-mannitol, L-rhamnitol, or D-fucitol; except when R3 is D-mannitol, R2 is not 2 nor 3 O-linked 3,5-dihydroxydecanoate chains. These liamocins described above in addition to D-mannitol liamocin A1, D-mannitol liamocin A2, D-mannitol liamocin B1, and D-mannitol liamocin B2, alone or in combination with each other, can be used to kill certain bacteria and to treat certain bacterial infections.