Synthesis and fabrication of highly functionalized Jeffamine antimicrobial polymeric coating

A simple, robust, and eco-friendly technique for the fabrication of functionalized Jeffamine polymer in an aqueous medium is developed. The polymer is prepared by post polymerization modification of Jeffamine ED-2003 of molecular weight 2000. The structure of the modified polymer was studied in detail using FTIR and NMR (¹H and ¹³C NMR) spectroscopic methods. The thermal properties and degradation of the polymer were examined by DSC and TGA techniques. The polymer exhibited glass transition temperature (T_g) at 115°C. The functionalized polymeric compound showed good antimicrobial activity against gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, a tubercular variant Mycobacterium smegmatis, and gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus with a zone of inhibition of 6 to 12, 9, and 5 to 9 mm diameter, respectively. The compound also showed good activity against the fungus, Candida albicans, with a zone of inhibition of 6 to 11 mm diameter. The morphology of the polymer films and interaction of the microbes with functionalized Jeffamine polymer were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).