Promising antimicrobial material based on hyperbranched polyacrylic acid for biomedical applications

A prospective antimicrobial material based on polyacrylic acid hyperbranched polymer (PAA- RAFT-HPAE) was synthesized via Reversible addition − fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization (RAFT). The antimicrobial tests showed that the prepared PAA- RAFT-HPAE exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against Gram positive Staphylococcus aureu and Candida albicans fungus. In addition, the cytotoxicity results indicated that the PAA- RAFT-HPAE was nontoxic on BJ1 normal human fibroblast cells. Moreover, PAA-RAFT-HPAE was incorporated with different concentrations into polyvinylalcohol matrix (PVA) to prepare antimicrobial bio-films. The effect of incorporation of PAA-RAFT-HPAE on the biological, mechanical, and thermal properties of the resulting films was investigated.