Silver nanoparticles well-dispersed in amine-functionalized, one-pot made vesicles as an effective antibacterial agent

We report a simple route to prepare silver nanoparticle (Ag NP) loaded amine functionalized poly-oligomeric (ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate block poly-glycidyl methacrylate (POEGMA-b-PGMA) vesicles as an effective antibacterial agent. Self-assemblies of POEGMA-b-PGMA were prepared from reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization mediated by a POEGMA macro-chain transfer agent (macro-CTA) in ethanol. Amine-functionalized self-assemblies were applied for Ag NP loading by using amine and hydroxyl groups as both the coordination agent and reductant under hydrothermal condition in high-pressure steam sterilization. 12.7 wt.% content of fine Ag NP well-dispersed in vesicles showed excellent antibacterial activities with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) below 5.0 and 10.0 mg/L against Escherichia coli and 2.5 and 80 mg/L against Staphylococcus aureus respectively.