title: Antimicrobial Contact-Active Oligo(2-oxazoline)s-Grafted Surfaces for Fast Water Disinfection at the Point-of-Use.
abstract: Water is one of the most valuable resources today and its purity is crucial to health and society well-being. The access to safe drinking water is decreasing in the world, which can have a huge socio-economic impact especially in developing countries, more prone to water-associated diseases. The goal of this work was to develop an innovative, fast, and cost-effective 3D material capable of decontaminating water. We have used an eco-friendly strategy, combining plasma surface activation and supercritical fluid technology to produce, for the first time, a 2-oxazoline-grafted 3D surface with broad-spectrum contact-active antimicrobial properties. Oligo(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) quaternized with N,N-dimethyldodecylamine and grafted to a chitosan (CHT) scaffold (CHT-OMetOx-DDA) efficiently and quickly (<3 min) killed >99.999% of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli cells upon direct contact and avoided bacterial adhesion to the materials surface, which is important for the prevention of biofilm formation. As a proof of concept, CHT-OMetOx-DDA scaffold was demonstrated to be suitable for water purification efficiently killing the microorganisms present in different water samples within minutes of contact and without leaching to the water. Additionally, we report for the first time a new method to clearly distinguish two mechanisms of action of bioactive surfaces: contact-active and releasing systems.
authors.affiliation: LAQV-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica , 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.|Bacterial Cell Biology Laboratory, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier , Av. da República (EAN) 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal.
authors.forename: Vanessa G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.affiliation: Centro de Química-Física Molecular (CQFM) and Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa , 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ferraria
authors.affiliation: Bacterial Cell Biology Laboratory, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier , Av. da República (EAN) 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal.
authors.forename: Mariana G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Pinho
authors.affiliation: LAQV-REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica , 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aguiar-Ricardo
mesh_terms: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000494:pharmacology*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D004123:Dimethylamines / Q000737:chemistry*; D004202:Disinfectants / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000382:microbiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000187:drug effects; D010080:Oxazoles / Q000737:chemistry*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D013499:Surface Properties; D013997:Time Factors; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: C561519:2-methyl-2-oxazoline; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D004123:Dimethylamines; D004202:Disinfectants; D010080:Oxazoles; D048271:Chitosan