Preparation of new nanofiber conducting scaffold-based polyaniline and polypyrrole grafted on chitosan with antibacterial properties

Abstract

We intend to produce a new conducting scaffold based on conducting polymers. First, aniline and pyrrole as monomers were grown on activated chitosan (Cs) by interfacial polymerization, and polyaniline (PANI) and polypyrrole (PPy) nanofibers (NF) were formed on chitosan, Poly (Cs-g-PANI-g-PPy). Then, new conducting scaffold Cs-g-PANI-g-PPy nanofiber using a solution of phytic acid was prepared. This scaffold was characterized using FT-IR and UV-Visible. Its surface morphology was studied by FTSEM imaging. Its electrical conductivity and percentage of grafting were measured by the four-point method and the corresponding equations, respectively. This composite biopolymer has many good antibacterial properties. These properties were investigated on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia as gram-negative and Staphylococcus aureus as gram-positive as a common bacterium in skin and bone by two methods, disk diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Cs-g-PANI-g-PPy nanofiber scaffold in concentrations of about 50 µg had a significant antimicrobial effect against all tested bacteria. The results show the higher antimicrobial activity of polymer against the gram-negative rather than gram-positive bacteria.