Synthesis and simultaneous self-assembly of novel antibacterial polyurethanes

Novel physically crosslinked polyurethane (PUII) based on isophorone diisocyanates (IPDI) was prepared by a conventional two step method. The chemical structures of the PUII were characterized by fourier transform infrared (FTIR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The PUII hydrogels were subjected to solvent-induced self-assembly in THF + water to construct a variety of morphologies. The self-assembly morphology of the PUII was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Different amounts (0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8%, 1.0%) of 1,3,5-Tris(2-hydroxyethyl) hexahydro-1,3,5-triazine (TNO) was added as antibacterial agent to the polyurethane prepolymers. The inhibiting capacity of the antibacterial films to the Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Gray mold has been studied. The inhibiting capacity of films for each strain effect became obvious with the increase of content of antibacterial agent and the sensitive degree to all kind of bacterial species was different.