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Hydrothermally derived water-dispersible mixed valence copper-chitosan nanocomposite as exceptionally potent antimicrobial agent

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Abstract

We report, for the first time, a one-step hydrothermal (HT) process to design and synthesize water-dispersible chitosan nanoparticles loaded with mixed valence copper. Interestingly, this HT copper-chitosan biocompatible composite exhibits exceptionally high antimicrobial properties. A comprehensive characterization of the composite indicates that the hydrothermal process results in the formation of monodispersed nanoparticles with average size of 40 ± 10 nm. FT-IR and Raman spectroscopic studies unveiled that the hydrolysis of the glycoside bonds as the origin of the depolymerization of chitosan. Furthermore, X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy measurements confirmed the presence of mixed valence copper states in the composite, while UV–Vis and FT-IR studies revealed the chemical interaction of copper with the chitosan matrix. Hence, the extensive spectroscopic data provide strong evidence that the chitosan structure was rearranged to capture copper oxide nanoparticles. Finally, HT copper-chitosan composite showed a complete killing effect when tested against both Gram negative (E. coli) and Gram positive (S. aureus) bacteria at metallic copper concentration of 100 μg/ml (1.57 mM). At the same concentration, neither pure chitosan nor copper elicited such antimicrobial efficacy. Thus, we show that HT process significantly enhances the synergistic antimicrobial effect of chitosan and copper in addition to increasing the water dispersibility.

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Acknowledgments

This project was partly supported by Grants from National Science Foundation CBET (Award #1159500) and Citrus Research and Development Foundation (Grants # 328, #196, # 554). Authors acknowledge Dr. Andre Gesquiere at UCF NanoScience Technology Center for his valuable suggestions on characterization of HT chitosan material. We would like to thank the staff of Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center (AMPAC) and Materials Characterization Facility (MCF) at the Univeristy of Central Florida for their technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 400, Research Pavilion, Orlando, FL, 32826, USA

    Srijita Basumallick, Parthiban Rajasekaran, Laurene Tetard & Swadeshmukul Santra

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 400, Orlando, FL, 32826, USA

    Srijita Basumallick & Swadeshmukul Santra

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 400, Orlando, FL, 32826, USA

    Swadeshmukul Santra

  4. Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 400, Orlando, FL, 32826, USA

    Laurene Tetard

  5. Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 400, Orlando, FL, 32826, USA

    Swadeshmukul Santra

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  1. Srijita Basumallick
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  2. Parthiban Rajasekaran
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  4. Swadeshmukul Santra
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Swadeshmukul Santra.

Additional information

Srijita Basumallick and Parthiban Rajasekaran have equally contributed to this work.

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Basumallick, S., Rajasekaran, P., Tetard, L. et al. Hydrothermally derived water-dispersible mixed valence copper-chitosan nanocomposite as exceptionally potent antimicrobial agent. J Nanopart Res 16, 2675 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-014-2675-9

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