Abstract:The control of microbial infections is a very important issue in modern society. In general there are two ways to stop microbes from infecting humans or deteriorating materials-disinfection and antimicrobial surfaces. The first is usually realized by disinfectants, which are a considerable environmental pollution problem and also support the development of resistant microbial strains. Antimicrobial surfaces are usually designed by impregnation of materials with biocides that are released into the surroundings whereupon microbes are killed. Antimicrobial polymers are the up and coming new class of disinfectants, which can be used even as an alternative to antibiotics in some cases. Interestingly, antimicrobial polymers can be tethered to surfaces without losing their biological activity, which enables the design of surfaces that kill microbes without releasing biocides. The present review considers the working mechanisms of antimicrobial polymers and of contact-active antimicrobial surfaces based on examples of recent research as well as on multifunctional antimicrobial materials.

Goal of the present work is to develop an antimicrobial coating that can be applied from an aqueous solution and resists short washing cycles, but can be rinsed off by thorough washing. To this end, a series of star-shaped polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinyl-N-methylpyridinium iodide) polymers are synthesized by anionic polymerization using a core-first approach. The optimal resulting polymers are applied as coatings on glass slides, showing high antimicrobial efficiency against Staphylococcus aureus as well as Escherichia coli. The coatings, characterized by atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, stay at the surface even after at least 20 flush-like washings with water, and retain their antimicrobial activity.

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