Antimicrobial Polymers for Coating Cotton and Other Surfaces

Abstract

Antimicrobial N-halamine compounds were designed, synthesized and applied onto various materials to investigate and develop several properties of the N-halamine based technologies. Throughout the Master’s degree, two independent projects were undertaken. In the first project, there were three different commercially available N-halamine antimicrobial chemicals applied to cotton fabric. The purpose of this study was to finish cotton fabric with N-(hydroxymethyl)acrylamide (NMA) by etherification, and subsequently grafting different N-halamine monomers by vinyl copolymerization. Thus, a multifunctional coating compromising permanent press and antimicrobials will be created on cotton substrates without further processing. In this regard, first of all, N-(hydroxymethyl)acrylamide (NMA) was padded on cotton fabric, and then methacrylamide or acrylamide was grafted on the NMA treated fabric. The antimicrobial activities, stabilities, wrinkle recovery angles, and ultraviolet (UV) light resistances of different derivatives were investigated. In the second project, N-tertbuylacrylamide monomer was copolymerized with 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate and also grafted onto N-(hydroxymethyl)acrylamide (NMA). The purpose of this study was comparison of copolymer and grafted NTBA on biocidal properties. The antimicrobial activities, stabilities, wrinkle recovery angles, and ultraviolet (UV) light resistances of different derivatives were investigated.