Abstract

Nasreen A. Mazumdar¹, R. Vardarajan² and H. Singh³

Bulk co-polymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, 2-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate was carried out in presence of different concentrations of iodine solution. Iodine content per polymer sample varied. It was observed that iodine played an important role during polymerization. A critical concentration of iodine was found to catalyse the polymerization reaction while a slightly higher concentration of iodine retarded the reaction. Iodine also acted as a cross-linking agent during the process of polymerization. The swelling behaviour, thermal property and antimicrobial activity of the iodinated copolymer samples were studied. The results showed that iodinated polymeric hydrogels possessed antibacterial activity against E. coli and Staph. aureus.

Iodinated polymeric hydrogels; Copolymerisation; Antimicrobial activity

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