Synthesis, characterization and antimicrobial activity of Schiff bases modified chitosan-graft-poly(acrylonitrile)

Graft copolymerization of chitosan (Ch) with acrylonitrile (AN) prepared by free radical polymerization using potassium persulfate (PPS) as initiator. Optimization of Graft copolymerization of acrylonitrile on to chitosan was performed by studying the main parameters that affecting the grafting process such as initiator and monomer concentrations, reaction time and temperature of the polymerization process to study their influence on percent grafting (G%), grafting efficiency (GE%) and percent homopolymer (H%). Modification of grafted chitosan was done by Schiff's base derivatives using different aldehydes. They are characterized by FT-IR, X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis and scanning electron microscope. Their antibacterial activities against Streptococcus pneumonia (RCMB 010010), Staphylococcus aureus (RCMB 010028), as Gram-positive bacteria and Escherichia coli (RCMB 010052) as Gram-negative bacteria and the antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus (RCMB 02568), Candida albicans (RCMB 05036) and Geotricum candidum (RCMB 05097) were examined using the diffusion agar technique. The obtained data proved that modified chitosan by grafting show better antimicrobial activities than Chitosan. Also Schiff base derivatives showed better antimicrobial activities than grafted chitosan.