Preparation and antimicrobial activity of Konjac Glucomannan modified with quaternary ammonium compound

Seven kind of graft copolymerization Konjac Glucomannan with quaternary ammonium group have been prepared, using Konjac Glucomannan (KGM) and methacryloxylethyl alkyl dimethyl ammonium bromide with c₈-c₁₈ alkyl and benzyl in water, ceric ammonium nitrate as initiator, the reaction temperature of 348 K, and the reaction period of 3 h. The structures were confirmed by FTIR. The 15 min inhibitory rates of all the graft copolymerization KGM against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus reached 99.99%, against Candida albicans somewhat lower, but 30 min inhibitory rate still reached 99.02% for graft copolymerization KGM with quaternary ammonium group having 14 alkyl. The antibacterial mechanism of the graft copolymerization KGM has been investigated by adsorption ability to E. coli, measure of 260 nm absorbing materials and SEM micrographs. Firstly, the bacteria were fastly adsorbed by graft copolymerization KGM. Interactions between bacterial membranes and antibacterial product cause fundamental changes in both membrane structure and function, induced leakage of cytoplasmic contents is a classic indication of damage to the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane. The loss of the connection between the outer membrane and the underlying peptidoglycan induces the abnormality of nodular structures and bleb formation of the cell envelope of E. coli. The antibacterial mechanism is in accordance with microbiologic findings identifying surface blebbing as the first morphologic change occurring in the permeability barrier of gram-negative bacteria under mild heat stress and laser irradiation, etc.