Synthesis and fabrication of highly functionalized Jeffamine antimicrobial polymeric coating

A simple, robust, and eco‐friendly technique for the fabrication of functionalized Jeffamine polymer in an aqueous medium is developed. The polymer is prepared by post polymerization modification of Jeffamine ED‐2003 of molecular weight 2000. The structure of the modified polymer was studied in detail using FTIR and NMR (¹H and ¹³C NMR) spectroscopic methods. The thermal properties and degradation of the polymer were examined by DSC and TGA techniques. The polymer exhibited glass transition temperature (T_g) at 115°C. The functionalized polymeric compound showed good antimicrobial activity against gram‐negative bacterium Escherichia coli, a tubercular variant Mycobacterium smegmatis, and gram‐positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus with a zone of inhibition of 6 to 12, 9, and 5 to 9 mm diameter, respectively. The compound also showed good activity against the fungus, Candida albicans, with a zone of inhibition of 6 to 11 mm diameter. The morphology of the polymer films and interaction of the microbes with functionalized Jeffamine polymer were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).