Antibacterial cotton fabric prepared by surface-initiated photochemically induced atom transfer radical polymerization of 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate with subsequent quaternization

A modification of the cotton fabric surface using surface-initiated oxygen-tolerant photochemically induced atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-photoATRP) of 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) with subsequent quaternization to impart antibacterial properties is reported. First, the photoATRP of DMAEMA was optimized by investigating the effect of reaction conditions on the control of polymerization kinetics and molecular characteristics of poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAMEA). Subsequently, the optimized conditions were applied for surface modification of cotton fabric pre-functionalized with an ATRP initiator. Cotton-grafted-PDMAEMA (cell-g-PDMAEMA) with different grafting yields was produced and reacted with benzyl bromide to obtain quaternized-grafted cotton fabric (cell-g-QPDMAEMA), which has an antibacterial function. The structure and morphology of cell-Br, cell-g-PDMAEMA, and cell-g-QPDMAEMA have been characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The quaternized-grafted cotton fabric showed high antibacterial efficiency and a good laundry resistance, while the mechanical properties of the modified fabrics did not deteriorate dramatically by the surface modification.