Antimicrobial N-halamine modified chitosan films.

The inherent antimicrobial properties and biodegradability of chitosan make it an ideal candidate for antimicrobial materials. In this study, N-halamine precursor 3-glycidyl-5,5-dimethylhydantoin (GH) was synthesized and bonded onto chitosan by a ring opening reaction between chitosan and GH. The chitosan film modified with the N-halamine precursor could be rendered biocidal after exposure to a dilute household bleach solution. Syntheses routes, characterization data, and antimicrobial test results are presented. The chlorinated films with 2.60 × 10(18) atoms/cm(2) of active chlorine were challenged with Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538) and Escherichia coli O157:H7 (ATCC 43895) and showed good efficacy against these two bacterial species with log reductions of 7.4 and 7.5 within 10 and 5 min of contact time, respectively. These films may serve as potential materials for food packaging and biomedical applications.