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Metal-Containing Poly(ionic liquid) Membranes for Antibacterial Applications
Zhiqiang Zheng1, Jiangna Guo1, Hailei Mao2
1Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China.
Abstract:
Imidazolium-type metal-containing ionic liquid (IL) monomers and their corresponding poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) membranes coordinated with CuCl2 (PILM-Cu), FeCl3 (PILM-Fe), or ZnCl2 (PILM-Zn) were synthesized. The effect of metal ions on the antimicrobial activities against both Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) was investigated. Compared with pristine PILM-Br membrane, PILM-Cu, PILM-Fe, and PILM-Zn membranes exhibit enhanced antibacterial activities due to the attributes of both imidazolium cations and metal-containing anions. Furthermore, all of the metal-containing PIL membranes present low hemolysis toward human red blood cell and high long-term antibacterial stability, even after immersion in water for 90 days, demonstrating clinical feasibility in topical applications.
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