Performance properties and antibacterial activity of crosslinked films of quaternary ammonium modified starch and poly(vinyl alcohol)

There has been a growing interest in developing antibacterial polymeric materials. In the present work, novel antibacterial cross-linked blend films were prepared based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and quaternary ammonium starch (ST-GTMAC) using citric acid (CA) as plasticizer and glutaraldehyde (GA) as cross-linker. The ST-GTMAC was successfully synthesized from reaction between water-soluble oxidized starch and glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride (GTMAC). The effect of ST-GTMAC, CA and GA contents on the swelling, solubility, mechanical and thermal properties of the films was investigated. It was found that incorporation of ST-GTMAC reduced UV-transmittance and provided antibacterial properties, increasing GA content increased tensile strength and decreased solubility and swelling degree of the films, while CA acted as plasticizer when its concentration was above 10 wt%. The results showed that ST-GTMAC/PVA/CA/GA film has fair antibacterial activity against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria. These results suggest that the prepared film might be used as potential antibacterial material in medical and packaging applications.