Biofilms are highly organised colonies of bacteria and other microorganisms at a surface or interface. These colonies show a high level of structural complexity, which helps to protect the microorganisms from removal from a surface by both physical and chemical processes. Biofilms can cause major issues for industry, for example through the fouling of ship hulls or food processing plants. They are also implicated in the majority of nosocomial infections where they can show increased resistance against conventional antibiotic therapy. Our research group has shown that small molecule nitroxides (persistent and stable free radical species) are able to inhibit the formation of biofilms on a surface, as well as being able to disperse existing biofilms. In this project, we look to extend these molecules further by designing polymeric materials bearing pendant nitroxide groups, which have the potential to be used as anti-biofilm surface coatings. This presentation will detail our efforts to synthesise and characterise thin films with controlled concentration of the nitroxide radical. This has been achieved through the spin coating of methacrylate copolymers, synthesised by RAFT polymerisation. Through this process, we were able to control the concentration of nitroxide in our polymer, as measured by EPR, which in turn controls the concentration at the surface, as determined by XPS. We have investigated these films for their ability to prevent biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in both static and flow assays.

Polynitroxides to protect against bacterial biofilms

255th National Meeting (2018)

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