Polymer surfaces derivatized with poly(vinyl‐N‐hexylpyridinium) kill airborne and waterborne bacteria

Abstract

A facile methodology has been developed for covalently derivatizing the surfaces of common materials with a designed antibacterial polycation, poly(vinyl‐N‐pyridinium bromide), wherein the first, key step involves surface coating with a nanolayer of silica. Various commercial synthetic polymers derivatized in this manner become bactericidal—they kill up to 99% of deposited, from either an aerosol or an aqueous suspension, Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria on contact. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 79: 465–471, 2002.