The Preparation of New Polystyrenic Onium and Substituted Poly(Thionylphosphazene) Antimicrobials

With increasing concern over AMR in bacteria, the synthesis of traditional and non-traditional antimicrobial polymers is of interest. The first project focuses on preparing new polystyrenic quaternary compounds that will be grafted to plastic surfaces. Three quaternary styrenic polymers (4-6) and their respective random copolymers with styrene (7-9) were synthesized and grafted onto HDPE, where biological testing of coatings 4, 5 and 7 using the LDI protocol showed some bacterial reduction with alkyl chain lengths ≥ 4. The second project focuses on synthesizing novel thionylphosphazene monomers and looking into greener polymerization routes. Two novel thionylphosphazene monomers (13-14) were synthesized and a greener polymerization route was obtained using Lewis acid-catalyzed microwave irradiation. The third project involves undertaking DFT calculations of various cyclic thionylphosphazenes to study alternate polymerization routes of these compounds. Energy calculations showed the potential for substituted thionylphosphazenes with small substituents to polymerize under ambient temperatures with Lewis acid catalysts.