Development of Contact Active Antimicrobial Materials

Elena Poverenov, Food Quality and Safety, Agricultural Research Organization, the Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel


A "contact active" concept provides a new promising approach for fight against harmful microorganisms. In this approach antimicrobial component is covalently linked to a material surface, while its biocide site remains active. For a development and application of the contact active materials their preparation should be synthetically simple and universal.

In this work we have applied three different approaches to form a series of contact active materials with covalently linked antimicrobial quaternary ammonium salt (QAS). The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed tridentate binding mode of the antimicrobial agent. The antimicrobial activity of the prepared materials was tested on Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. Active site density of the modified materials was examined and found to correlate with their antimicrobial activity. Stability studies at different pH values and temperatures confirmed that the linkage of the bioactive moiety to the surface is robust and resistant to a range of pH and temperatures. Prolonged long-term effectiveness of the contact active materials was demonstrated by their repeated usage, without loss of the antimicrobial efficacy.