Design and Fabrication of Broad-Spectrum Antimicrobial Porous Metallo-Polymeric Microsphere for Water Disinfection.

An expedient and efficient approach is used to synthesize new class of metallo-polymeric microspheres as antimicrobials to succumb the wide range of bacteria from water. Three types of metallo-polymeric microspheres (MPMs), i.e., poly[Silver (I)-methacrylate-co-methylmethacrylate] (pAgMA), poly[Copper (II)-methacrylate-co-methyl methacrylate] (pCuMA), and poly[Nickel (II)-methacrylate-co-methylmethacrylate] (pNiMA), were prepared via radical suspension polymerization technique in three-dimensional shape with porous texture. The structural and morphological characterization of the prepared microspheres were examined by analytical techniques. The antimicrobial potentialities of prepared MPMs were investigated at the laboratory scale study, revealing that the MPMs exhibited strong antibacterial activity (∼99.9% killing) against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria (Enterobacter hormaechei, Bacillus megatarium, and Bacillus bataviensis). The MacConkey agar medium test revealed that MPMs have substantial biocidal efficacy against broad-spectrum Gram-negative bacteria present in tap water. The MPMs exhibited significant antimicrobial efficacy via contact killing owe to the presence of integrated biocidal metal moiety, which represents that the MPMs are safe for water disinfection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.