Synthesis of quaternary ammonium salt and N-halamine based methacrylamide polymers and investigation of dual antibacterial effects

Strong and fast acting antibacterial materials are needed to prevent the deadly diseases caused by infections threatening nearly all over the world. Antibacterial polymers are widely used due to their superior properties comparing to the monomeric agents. Among various antibacterial agents, N-halamine and quaternary ammonium compounds are the most important and most preferred ones. Although quaternary ammonium compounds show long-lasting activation and high chemical stability, they are not able to show strong activity against some bacterial species limiting their usage areas. N-halamine compounds, in addition to the advantages of being powerful and fast acting against a wide variety of species and being economical, their antibacterial activity diminish over time. In this study, it was aimed to develop antibacterial materials exhibiting stronger and faster antibacterial activity by using N-halamines and quaternary ammonium compounds together, taking into consideration the advantages and disadvantages of both compounds. In this context, antibacterial materials have been produced by polymerizing N-[3(dimethylamino) propyl] methacrylamide (DMAPMA) monomer and by grafting onto cellulosic surfaces. The synthesized polymers and modified fabrics were characterized by TGA, DSC and FT-IR analyzes. The results of the analyzes showed that the polymer synthesis and the fabric modification have been successfully accomplished. The modification processes applied to viscose fabrics did not adversely affect the fabric strength, but reduce the thermal resistance of the fabric due to chlorine content. As a result of the repeated chlorination and light fastness tests, it was determined that the surfaces could be chlorinated repeatedly but the chlorine loading capacity decreases over time. As a result of repeated washing tests, it was found that about 90% of the coating remained on the surface even after 30 washes, although it appeared that the chlorine was easily removed with the washing. In addition, when the light fastness of modified fabrics was examined, the amount of chlorine exhausted within 30 days. Even though, the N-halamine functionality was lost by washing and light irradiation, the antibacterial property is preserved by quaternary ammonium compounds remaining on the surfaces. Bacterial inactivation of polymers and modified viscose fabrics against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria was sufficient against a targeted concentration of bacteria. In the light of the results obtained, it has been demonstrated that the developed dual acting polymers and fabrics can be used in areas where strong and long-lasting antibacterial functionality is required.