Preparation of functional anhydride copolymer-clay nanocomposites of organically modified montmorillonite (Org-MMT) and silver and determination of biological activities

Nanotechnology and nanomaterials have become a central of scientific studies. Today, it is very important develop functional structures that provide various need and solve problems in the area of biotechnology, medicine, pharmaceutical applications and material science. Design, synthesis and characterization of polymer nanocomposites are very popular issues both industry and academic areas. The aim of this study is to design, synthesize, characterize and biological analysis of antibacterial and anticancer p(MA-alt-NVP) copolymer and p(MA-alt-NVP)-Org-MMT-silver copolymer-organoclay nanocomposites. In accordance with these aim in the first step of the study, modification of clay was performed by using three different alkyl ammonium salts. The clay which was organophilic by the ion exchange reaction was made ready for polymerization. With the modification step, synthesis of modified clay containing silver was performed. The structure of modified clays were clarified by FTIR and XRD analyzes. In the second step of study, copolymer and copolymer-organoclay nanocomposites were synthesized by complex radical polymerization via charge transfer complex (CTC), using pure montmorillonite (MMT), modified MMT, modified MMT with silver and 1:1 ratio monomers of maleic anhydride (MA) and n-vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP). The structure of synthesized copolymer and copolymer-organoclay nanocomposites were clarified by FTIR and XRD analyzes. The thermal properties were clarified by TGA and DSC analyzes and surface properties were clarified by XPS analyzes. In the last step of the study, biological analyzes were conducted to investigate the effect of synthesized copolymer and copolymer-organoclay nanocomposites on bacteria and cell viability. The copolymer-organoclay nanocomposites which were synthesized were found to have antibacterial and anticancer properties.