Functionalized Poly(2-oxazoline)s for Surface Coating
Laurenz Elfeld, Laura Mengs, Rainer Jordan
Chair of Macromolecular Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden
In light of the COVID-19-crisis, antibacterial surfaces have gained relevance due to their application potential for medical devices[1]. A promising strategy is the coating of a surface with polymers because of their antifouling-behavior[2] as well as the addition of a positively charged functionality to gain bactericidal properties[3]. The combination of these antibacterial effects can be achieved by the coating with poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) (PMeOx) that is functionalized with a quarternary ammonium group[4]. This research aimed to synthesize block copolymers of the functionalized PMeOx and polylactide (PLA) to obtain a coating material for PLA-surfaces. Based on the work of Reif et al[5], the polymerization of 2-methyl-2-oxazoline (MeOx) was carried out with a bifunctional initiator. The resulting PMeOx was used as an initiator for the subsequent catalysed copolymerization with lactic acid. The optimization of several reaction-conditions enabled the successful synthesis of the PMeOx-PLA-copolymers containing a quarternary ammonium group. Therefore, an antibacterial coating material with the supposed combination of antifouling-behavior and bactericidal properties could be obtained.
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