Technological watch

The attachment and proliferation of antibiotic resistant, biofilm-forming bacteria to oft-handled material surfaces has emerged as a growing concern, particularly in the biomedical, healthcare and food packaging industries. UV-curable phosphoniums bearing benzophenone anchors have been synthesized with a variety of alkyl, aryl, and fluoroalkyl functional groups at phosphorus to probe their efficacy as thermally stable antimicrobial additives in plastics or as surface coatings. In an embodiment, a phosphonium compound having the following formula (I), has been synthesized: in which R is a phosphine group substituted with alkyl, aryl, substituted alkyl, substituted aryl, heteroalkyl or any combination thereof. These materials maintained the ability to kill biofilm-forming bacteria even after being subject to abrasion processes, demonstrating the potential to serve as long-term antimicrobial materials.