Study on the Synthesis and Characterization of Antibacterial Polystyrenes

Abstract

In the present work, a series of quaternized antibacterial polystyrenes (anti-PSts) with variousmolecular weights is synthesized and characterized. Initially, ω-bromo end functional polystyrenes withdifferent molecular weights (PSt-Br-, PSt-Br-2 and PSt-Br-3) are synthesized by atom transfer radicalpolymerization (ATRP). Then, the ω–bromo functionalities of obtained PSt-Brs are reacted withtrimethylamine (TEA) to achieve corresponding antibacterial properties. PSt-Brs and anti-PSts producedare structurally characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), proton nuclear magneticresonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) at various stages. Glasstransition 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 characterizationstudies 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 molecularweight and quaternization reaction time.