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. 2017 Aug 31;22(9):1438.
doi: 10.3390/molecules22091438.

Preparation and Characterization of Novel Cationic Chitosan Derivatives Bearing Quaternary Ammonium and Phosphonium Salts and Assessment of Their Antifungal Properties

Wenqiang Tan  1   2 , Qing Li  3 , Fang Dong  4 , Qiuhong Chen  5 , Zhanyong Guo  6   7
Affiliations

Preparation and Characterization of Novel Cationic Chitosan Derivatives Bearing Quaternary Ammonium and Phosphonium Salts and Assessment of Their Antifungal Properties

Wenqiang Tan et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Chitosan is an abundant and renewable polysaccharide, its derivatives exhibit attractive bioactivities and the wide applications in various biomedical fields. In this paper, two novel cationic chitosan derivatives modified with quaternary phosphonium salts were successfully synthesized via trimethylation, chloride acetylation, and quaternization with tricyclohexylphosphine and triphenylphosphine. The structures and properties of synthesized products in the reactions were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, ¹H-NMR, 31P-NMR, elemental and thermogravimetric analysis. The antifungal activities of chitosan derivatives against four kinds of phytopathogens, including Phomopsis asparagi, Watermelon fusarium, Colletotrichum lagenarium, and Fusarium oxysporum were tested using the radial growth assay in vitro. The results revealed that the synthesized cationic chitosan derivatives showed significantly improved antifungal efficiency compared to chitosan. It was reasonably suggested that quaternary phosphonium groups enabled the obviously stronger antifungal activity of the synthesized chitosans. Especially, the triphenylphosphonium-functionalized chitosan derivative inhibited the growth of Phomopsis asparagi most effectively, with inhibitory indices of about 80% at 0.5 mg/mL. Moreover, the data demonstrated that the substituted groups with stronger electron-withdrawing ability relatively possessed greater antifungal activity. The results suggest the possibility that cationic chitosan derivatives bearing quaternary phosphonium salts could be effectively employed as novel antifungal biomaterials for application in the field of agriculture.

Keywords: antifungal activity; cationic chitosan derivatives; electron-withdrawing ability; quaternary ammonium salts; quaternary phosphonium salts.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Synthetic route to the novel chitosan derivatives.
Figure 1
Figure 1
FTIR spectra of chitosan and chitosan derivatives.
Figure 2
Figure 2
1H-NMR spectra of chitosan and chitosan derivatives.
Figure 3
Figure 3
31P-NMR spectra of chitosan derivatives.
Figure 4
Figure 4
TGA (a) and DTG (b) curves of chitosan and chitosan derivatives.
Figure 5
Figure 5
pH dependence of water solubility of chitosan and chitosan derivatives.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The antifungal activity of chitosan and chitosan derivatives against P. asparagi.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The antifungal activity of chitosan and chitosan derivatives against W. fusarium.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The antifungal activity of chitosan and chitosan derivatives against C. lagenarium.
Figure 9
Figure 9
The antifungal activity of chitosan and chitosan derivatives against F. oxysporum.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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