title: Novel terephthaloyl thiourea cross-linked chitosan hydrogels as antibacterial and antifungal agents.
abstract: Four novel terephthaloyl thiourea chitosan (TTU-chitosan) hydrogels were synthesized via a cross-linking reaction of chitosan with different concentrations of terephthaloyl diisothiocyanate. Their structures were investigated by elemental analyses, FTIR, SEM and X-ray diffraction. The antimicrobial activities of the hydrogels against three species of bacteria (Bacillis subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli) and three crop-threatening pathogenic fungi (Aspergillus fumigatus, Geotrichum candidum and Candida albicans) are much higher than that of the parent chitosan. The hydrogels were more potent in case of Gram-positive bacteria than Gram-negative bacteria. Increasing the degree of cross-linking in the hydrogels resulted in a stronger antimicrobial activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. namadm@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Nadia Ahmed
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.forename: Noura Yahya
authors.initials: NY
authors.lastname: Al-mehbad
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry*; D005658:Fungi / Q000254:growth & development*; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D013890:Thiourea / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000935:Antifungal Agents; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D020100:Hydrogels; D048271:Chitosan; D013890:Thiourea