Skip to main content
. 2014 Mar 27:262–287. doi: 10.1533/9781845695552.2.262

Table 8.5.

Chemical incorporation of cationic antimicrobial agents into polyolefins

 Antimicrobial activity
Antimicrobial agent/substrate fabrication method Minimum concentration contact time (method) (% or log) bacteria reduction Remarks Ref.
HTCC/PP non-woven Grafting GMA onto plasma-treated PP followed by immobilization 29.7% GMA/2.6% HTCC

  • 3 h (AATCC 100)

  • 1.4 log (E. coli),

  • 1 log (L. plantarum) and

  • 1.3 log (S. aureus)

 Wafa et al. (2007)
β -cyclodexrin (CD)/PP non-woven Same as above

  • 20.62% GMA/1% CD

  • 3 h (AATCC 100)

  • 1.1 log (E. coli), 0.4 log

  • (L. plantarum)

  • and 1.1 log (S. aureus)

 Higher GMA/CD conc. show inverse effect on activities Wafa et al. (2007)
Chitosan/PP non-woven Solution grafting with AA followed by immobilization in presence of collagen and glutaraldehyde

  • 43% (11% AA grafting and

  • 33:67 collagen:chitosan)

  • Not reported (AATCC 100)

  • 100% (S. aureus)

 Water-uptake and diffusion coefficient decrease at higher immobilization percentage Wang and Chen (2005)
Chitosan/PP film Amino and carboxyl-plasma activation of PP followed by immobilization

  • 1.75 g/m2

  • 24 h (drop test under humid condition)

  • 2 log (E. coli) and 4 log

  • (B. subtilis)

 > 95% reduction in oxygen permeability, using glutaraldehyde as coupling agent Vartiainen et al. (2005)
Chitosan/PP non-woven AA grafting under γ-ray irradiation followed by immobilization in presence of EDAC

  • 17% (6% AA grafting)

  • 18 h (direct contact)

  • 99.6% (P. aeruginosa)

 Higher water content after treatment Yang et al. (2003)
Quaternary ammonium salt/PP fabricMA γ-irradiation grafting followed by quaternization with amine hydrochloride–epichlorhydrin condensate

  • 15% MA grafting plus

  • 35% quaternization extent

  • 24 h (XPG39-010)

  • > 99% (S. aureus and K. pneumonia)

 Same activity even without quaternization Mosleh et al. (2003)
Quaternary ammonium salts/LLDPE film AA glow discharge grafting followed by quaternization

  • 10−6 M

  • 24 h (direct contact)

  • 100% (2 × 105 S. aureus)

  • and 99% (3 × 105 E. coli)

 No activity for C12 chain lengthNo activity when bacteria conc. > 105 CFU/ml McCubbin et al. (2006b)
Quaternary ammonium salt/PP fabricMorpholine ethyl methacrylate (MEMA) E-beam irradiation grafting followed by quaternization

  • 40% MEMA grafting plus

  • 50–70% quaternization extent

  • 3 h (AATCC 100)

  • 6 log (E. coli)

 Less activity when benzyl chloride used as alkylating agent Mosleh et al. (2003)
Quaternary ammonium salt/PP fabricRadiation grafting of vinyl pyridine (4-VP) followed by quaternization by ethyl/butyl/hexadecyl or benzyl halide

  • 2.3% 4-VP grafting plus

  • 89–93% quaternization extent

  • Effluent technique for

  • 20 mL bacteria with rate:

  • 7.5 mL/min

  • 90–95% (E. coli)

 Benzyl bromide was the most effective Higher activity with more plied layers Tan et al. (2000)
PQA/PP plateATRP of DMAEMA onto PP followed by quaternization

  • PQA > 14 unit/nm2

  • 1 h (shake flask)

  • 100% (3 × 105 E. coli)

 Huang et al. (2007)