Figure 4. The transformation into antibacterial PLimC.

Schematic of the functionalization of PLimC with a tertiary amine (PLimC-N) and the subsequent quaternization with a benzyl moiety (PLimC-NQ). In the column diagram, the bacterial inhibition performances of PLimC-NQ20 and a positive reference material (polyhexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride, PHMG) relative to pure PLimC in a shaking flask experiment; tested on E. coli bacteria in buffer solution with polymer films (20 mg ml⁻¹) at 20 °C are illustrated. The inhibition was calculated by determination of the cfu of tenfold diluted dispersions spread on agar plates (Supplementary Table 7).