The anti-bacterial poly(caprolactone)-poly(quaternary ammonium salt) as drug delivery carriers

Anti-bacterial materials play significant role in biomedical field. Researches and applications of new anti-bacterial materials are necessary. Novel linear and star-shaped copolymers of poly(caprolactone)-poly(quaternary ammonium salt) (PCL-PJDMA) were synthesized by a combination of ring-opening polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization. The structures of the copolymers were confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H-NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The copolymers self-assembled into ball-shaped micelles with low critical micelle concentration (10 −4 ∼10 −3  mg/ml). An anti-bacterial drug, triclosan, was chosen as a model drug to investigate the potential application of the copolymers in drug-controlled release. The anti-bacterial experiments against Escherichia coli indicated that all the copolymer micelles had anti-bacterial ability and drug-loaded star-shaped PCL-PJDMA micelles were the best. The slow release of the drug from the drug-loaded micelles prolonged anti-bacterial effect. Therefore, PCL-PJDMA themselves have not only anti-bacterial ability but also the copolymer micelles can be used as carriers for anti-bacterial drugs.