A water-soluble Irgacure 2959-based diallylammonium salt system for antibacterial coatings

A water-soluble mixture of a novel diallylammonium salt photoinitiator based on 2-hydroxy-1-[4-(2-hydroxyethoxy) phenyl]-2-methyl-1-propanone (Irgacure 2959 or I2959) and diallylammonium tosylate has been prepared. It shows excellent water-solubility of 6.8 wt% in water, much greater than the solubility of I2959 (<2 wt%). It has a strong absorbance at 269 nm (epsilon similar to 15731) in methanol. It exhibits 15.6 times higher migration stability than I2959 due to its monomeric nature. Its photoinitiating efficiency of 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA) and poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA, M-n = 575 D) was found to be similar to I2959. PEGDA hydrogels prepared using the synthesized photoinitiator (PI) were found to have highly porous structures (15.44 mu m) compared with those using I2959. PEGDA film prepared using this PI has demonstrated antibacterial properties against gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 15442) and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 23235) bacterial species.