The objectives of this study were to synthesize new quaternary ammonium methacrylates (QAMs) with systematically varied alkyl chain lengths (CL) and to investigate, for the first time, the CL effects on antibacterial efficacy, cytotoxicity, and dentin bond strength of bonding agents. QAMs were synthesized with CL of 3 to 18 and incorporated into Scotchbond Multi-Purpose (SBMP) bonding agent. The cured resins were inoculated with Streptococcus mutans. Bacterial early attachment was investigated at 4 hrs. Biofilm colonyforming units (CFU) were measured after 2 days. With CL increasing from 3 to 16, the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration were decreased by 5 orders of magnitude. Incorporating QAMs into SBMP reduced bacterial early attachment, with the least colonization at CL = 16. Biofilm CFU for CL = 16 was 4 log lower than SBMP control (p < .05). All groups had similar dentin bond strengths (p > .1). The new antibacterial materials had fibroblast/ odontoblast viability similar to that of commercial controls. In conclusion, increasing the chain length of new QAMs in bonding agents greatly increased the antibacterial efficacy. A reduction in Streptococcus mutans biofilm CFU by 4 log could be achieved, without compromising bond strength and cytotoxicity. New QAM-containing bonding agents are promising for a wide range of restorations to inhibit biofilms.KEY WOrDs: antibacterial activity, Streptococcus mutans, quaternary ammonium compounds, dentin bonding, fibroblasts, odontoblasts. (Mjör and Toffeneti, 2000;Sakaguchi, 2005). Replacing failed restorations accounts for 50% to 70% of all restorations performed (Frost, 2002;Bagramian et al., 2009). Biofilm acids could lead to caries (ten Cate, 2006); hence antibacterial resins were developed to inhibit biofilms (Imazato et al., 1999;Imazato, 2003;Beyth et al., 2006;Namba et al., 2009;Cheng et al., 2012a). Indeed, previous studies investigated the copolymerization of quaternary ammonium methacrylates (QAMs) to develop antibacterial resins (Imazato, 2003;Li et al., 2009;Xie et al., 2011;Antonucci et al., 2012;Xu et al., 2012;Zhang et al., 2012).Composites are the principal materials for tooth-cavity restorations (Ferracane, 2011) which are bonded in cavities via adhesives (Ferracane et al., 2010;Spencer et al., 2010;Pashley et al., 2011). Residual bacteria could exist in the prepared cavity, and microleakage could allow bacteria to invade the tooth-restoration interfaces. Therefore, it is beneficial for primer/ adhesive to be antibacterial (Imazato et al., 1998;Imazato, 2003;Li et al., 2009;Hiraishi et al., 2010;Cheng et al., 2012b). Quaternary ammonium can cause bacteria lysis by binding to membranes (Beyth et al., 2006). A previous study revealed that long polymeric chains with positive charges and hydrophobicity effectively killed bacteria (Lin et al., 2002). When the alkyl chain length (CL) was increased, the hydrophobicity increased, thereby enhancing its propensity to penetrate the hydrophobic bacterial membrane (Tiller...