Study on the synthesis and characterization of antibacterial polystyrenes

Abstract

In the present work, a series of quaternized antibacterial polystyrenes (anti-PSts) with various molecular weights is synthesized and characterized. Initially, ω-bromo end functional polystyrenes with different molecular weights (PSt-Br-, PSt-Br-2 and PSt-Br-3) are synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Then, the ω-bromo functionalities of obtained PSt-Brs are reacted with trimethylamine (TEA) to achieve corresponding antibacterial properties. PSt-Brs and anti-PSts produced are structurally characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) at various stages. Glass transition temperatures (Tg) of PSt-Brs and anti-PSts are determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. Water contact angle measurement (WCA) is employed for the wettability characterization studies of anti-PSts. In addition, antibacterial activity of final products against to Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria is elucidated in terms of molecular weight and quaternization reaction time.