S-nitrosothiol tethered polymer hexagons: synthesis, characterisation and antibacterial effect

In this work, we portray a new controlled nitric oxide (NO) delivery platform by grafting S-nitrosothiol derived from cysteine into the polymeric backbone of poly(vinyl methyl ether-co-maleic anhydride). Nitrosothiols (RSNO's) are linked to the polymeric backbone through solvent displacement method. By adjusting solvent polarity, materials of different shapes and sizes varying between μm and nm are prepared. More often our method of preparation resulted in hexagonally shaped polymeric materials. The structure and RSNO conjugation analysis was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FT-IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Bactericidal efficacy of nitric oxide releasing polymer hexagons, a novel antibacterial agent is demonstrated against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Confocal microscopic studies revealed the enhanced bactericidal effect of polymer hexagons via membrane destruction. Results suggest that this biocompatible NO releasing RSNO conjugated polymer hexagons could be potentially useful for antimicrobial applications.