Antibacterial Activity of Polymeric Quaternary Ammonium Compounds Tuned by Incorporating Hydrophilic co-Monomer

Copolymers of quaternary ammonium monomer（QAM） and hydrophilic co-monomer were successfully synthesized by free radical polymerization. It was discovered that the hydrophilic co-monomers with poor antibac- terial activity significantly enhanced the activity of QAM substituted with a long alkyl chain[i.e., N,N-dimethyl-N-dodecyl methacrylate ammonium bromide（DMAEMA-DB）]. When a suitable molar ratio of DMAEMA-DB to co-monomer was selected, the activity of the copolymers was up to 123 times that of the homopolymer of DMAEMA-DB against S. aureus, and 282 times that of it against E. colt. But unlike DMAEMA-DB, the co-monomers might weaken the activity of QAM substituted with a short alkyl chain[i.e., N,N-dimethyl-N-butyl methacrylate ammonium bromide（DMAEMA-BB）]. Moreover, it was found that copolymers of DMAEMA-DB were much more biocidal than those of DMAEMA-BB. Therefore, it could be speculated that the long alkyl chain plays an important role in the antibacterial activity, and that the hydrophilie co-monomers are beneficial to polymeric guaternary ammonium compounds（PQACs） to exert the positive effect of the long alkyl chain to the greatest degree.

Synthesis and Antibacterial Action of Poly(DMAEMA-BC) with Various Molecular Weights

Antibacterial polymers of dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate benzyl ammonium chloride（DMAEMA-BC） with various molecular weights（Mws） were prepared under controlling radical polymerization conditions. The Mws of these polymers were determined by means of static multiangle laser light scattering and viscosity method. A Mark-Houwink equation was established to be [η]=0.154M0.764 for the Mw evaluation of poly（DMAEMA-BC）s. The effects of the Mws of these poly（DMAEMA-BC）s on their antibacterial activities against E. coli and S. aureus were investigated by various methods including viable cell counting, electrical conductivity titration, intracellular constituent leakage tests and electron microscopy. Our results indicate that the antibacterial efficiency of DMAEMA-BC was significantly enhanced after the monomers were polymerized into a polymer and increased obviously with the Mws,as a result of the increase of charge density. Further investigation of the molecular basis underlying the anti-bacterial role of these polymers revealed that poly（DMAEMA-BC） promoted the release of potassium ion from the membrane of bacterial cells and the release increased significantly with the Mws of the polymers used.