Development of biomaterials and sustainable polymers from natural biomass is widely anticipated as fossil oil reserves dwindle and the environmental problems keep rising. Novel compounds and polymers were synthesized using pine tree resin acids that demonstrated to be effective antimicrobial agents against bacteria including Methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>. These chemicals had very low toxicity to mammalian cells proving the effectiveness of them. In addition, sustainable antimicrobial and antibiofilm coatings were developed using the cationic compounds and polymers grafted on surfaces. These surfaces were active against Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative bacterial growth. Interestingly, the surfaces promoted the growth of human dermal fibroblast cells. More recently, ring-opening metathesis polymerization was utilized to synthesize high molecular weight polymers from resin acids. Molecular weights as high as half a million Daltons were prepared. Flexible and mechanically robust films from these resin acid polymers were developed. Thermoplastic elastomers were prepared by combining resin acids and soybean oil derived compounds. Current research includes the development of facially amphiphilic cationic polymers using bile acids for antimicrobial applications.

Sustainable antimicrobial biomaterials and biobased plastics from natural biomass

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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