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. 2016 Oct;5(5):891-897.
doi: 10.1002/mbo3.378. Epub 2016 Jun 3.

The bactericidal activity of glutaraldehyde-impregnated polyurethane

Sandeep K Sehmi  1   2   3 , Elaine Allan  3 , Alexander J MacRobert  2 , Ivan Parkin  4
Affiliations

The bactericidal activity of glutaraldehyde-impregnated polyurethane

Sandeep K Sehmi et al. Microbiologyopen. 2016 Oct.

Abstract

Although glutaraldehyde is known to be bactericidal in solution, its potential use to create novel antibacterial polymers suitable for use in healthcare environments has not been evaluated. Here, novel materials were prepared in which glutaraldehyde was either incorporated into polyurethane using a simple "swell-encapsulation-shrink" method (hereafter referred to as "glutaraldehyde-impregnated polyurethane"), or simply applied to the polymer surface (hereafter referred to as "glutaraldehyde-coated polyurethane"). The antibacterial activity of glutaraldehyde-impregnated and glutaraldehyde-coated polyurethane samples was tested against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Glutaraldehyde-impregnated polyurethane resulted in a 99.9% reduction in the numbers of E. coli within 2 h and a similar reduction of S. aureus within 1 h, whereas only a minimal reduction in bacterial numbers was observed when the biocide was bound to the polymer surface. After 15 days, however, the bactericidal activity of the impregnated material was substantially reduced presumably due to polymerization of glutaraldehyde. Thus, although glutaraldehyde retains antibacterial activity when impregnated into polyurethane, activity is not maintained for extended periods of time. Future work should examine the potential of chemical modification of glutaraldehyde and/or polyurethane to improve the useful lifespan of this novel antibacterial polymer.

Keywords: Antibacterial; biocide; glutaraldehyde; hospital-acquired infections; polymer.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure of glutaraldehyde.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Viable counts of S. aureus after incubation at 20°C on modified polyurethane squares for: (A) 30 min and (B) 1 h, and viable counts of E. coli after incubation on modified polyurethane squares for: (C) 1 h and (D) 2 h. Control samples are solvent treated. *indicates bacterial numbers reduced below the detection limit of 100 cfu/mL.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Equilibrium reaction scheme in basic conditions (adapted from Margel and Rembaum (1980)).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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