The study of cellulosic fabrics impregnated with porphyrin compounds for use as photo-bactericidal polymers

Rahmatollah Rahimi, Fatemeh Fayyaz, Mehdi Rassa

Bioinorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran 16846-13114, Iran.

Abstract

In the present work, we report on the preparation of cellulosic fabrics bearing two types of photo-sensitizers in order to prepare efficient polymeric materials for antimicrobial applications. The obtained porphyrin-grafted cellulosic fabrics were characterized by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance UV–Vis (DRUV) spectroscopy, thermo-gravimetric analysis (TG) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Antimicrobial activity of the prepared porphyrin-cellulose was tested under visible light irradiation against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomunas aeroginosa and Escherichia coli. In addition, the effect of two parameters on photo-bactericidal activity of treated fibers was studied: illumination time and concentration of photosensitizers (PS).

Graphical abstract

Keywords: Cellulosic fabrics; Photo-bactericidal activity; Photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy; Tetra-cationic porphyrins; Thermo-gravimetric analysis; Zinc porphyrin compound.