Polymer-based materials with biocide activity for biomedical applications

Abstract

Polymer and material science has had a major impact on our day-to-day life. Telecommunications, automotive and aero-space industry, medicine and health care, agriculture and leisure are just a few domains significantly affected by the development of polymeric materials. An area of great current interest in terms of polymer R&D is that of polymers with biocide activity designed and produced for biomedical applications. For example, in the field of medicine and health care, biocide polymers may be incorporated, or even extruded, into fibers and used for contact materials (such as sterile bandages and clothing). The use of polymers with biocide activity is promising for enhancing the efficiency of some existing antimicrobial agents and for minimizing the environmental problems associated to conventional biocide agents by reducing their toxicity, increasing their activity and selectivity, prolonging their lifetime. In comparison with low molecular antimicrobials, these biocide polymeric materials have some advantages: they are nonvolatile, chemically stable and do not permeate through skin, they can contribute to the reduction of losses through volatilization, photolytic decomposition, transportation, etc. This paper offers an overview of some recent data concerning the synthesis and characteristics of some polymer-based materials with biocide activity designed for biomedical applications.