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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

High-throughput Identification of Bacteria Repellent Polymers for Medical Devices
Published on: November 5, 2016
Surfaces of fluorinated pyridinium block copolymers with enhanced antibacterial activity
Sitaraman Krishnan1, Rebekah J Ward, Alexander Hexemer
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Abstract:
Polystyrene-b-poly(4-vinylpyridine) copolymers were quaternized with 1-bromohexane and 6-perfluorooctyl-1-bromohexane. Surfaces prepared from these polymers were characterized by contact angle measurements, near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The fluorinated pyridinium surfaces showed enhanced antibacterial activity compared to their nonfluorinated counterparts. Even a polymer with a relatively low molecular weight pyridinium block showed high antimicrobial activity. The bactericidal effect was found to be related to the molecular composition and organization in the top 2-3 nm of the surface and increased with increasing hydrophilicity and pyridinium concentration of the surface.
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