Antibacterial activity of guanidinium-based ionic covalent organic framework anchoring Ag nanoparticles

In this paper, the antibacterial 2D covalent organic framework (COFTGTp) containing guanidyl cation was synthesized and used as a carrier to deposit AgNPs on N and O groups to form nanocomposites to avoid AgNPs aggregation and achieve excellent antibacterial effect. The Ag content in Ag/COFTGTp was 10.3% determined by ICP. TEM can clearly observe that AgNPs were uniformly dispersed in COFTGTp. Ag/COFTGTp was stable after being evenly dispersed in water with low cytotoxicity and hemolysis rate to erythrocytes. In bacteriostatic study, the minimum inhibitory concentration of Ag/COFTGTp for E. coli and S. aureus were 100 μg/mL and 50 μg/mL, respectively. Finally, the morphology of the bacteria was observed by SEM, confirmed the main sterilization by Ag/COFTGTp was destroying the cell wall of the bacteria. [Display omitted] •Ag/COFTGTp can avoid AgNPs aggregating in aqueous solution and dispensing evenly.•The antibacterial properties of Ag/COFTGTp were excellent with good biosecurity.•Ag/COFTGTp is expected to be a broad-spectrum and efficient antibacterial material.