Chitosan, Glutamic Acid/Monocarboxylic Cobalt-Phthalocyanine, and Carboxymethyl Cellulose as Innovative Antimicrobial Amide Biocomposites

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, new efficient antimicrobial hybrid amide biocomposites were developed through the condensation of chitosan with monocarboxylic cobalt-phthalocyanine (MC-CoPc) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), individually, as well as chitosan/(MC-CoPc)/glutamic acid and chitosan/(MC-CoPc)/CMC using a Dean and Stark apparatus in the presence of xylene as an aprotic solvent for 4 h until the required amount of water was collected. The resulting hybrid amide biopolymer chitosan condensation adducts were filtered, air-dried, washed several times with ethanol, and subsequently dried in an electric oven at 40 °C for 24 h. The hybrid amide chitosan biocomposites were characterized through spectrophotometric methods, including Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–visible), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and antimicrobial analyses against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, yeast, and fungi. The results confirmed the formation of hybrid chitosan amide biocomposites with very good antimicrobial properties. The efficiency of these hybrid biocomposites can be ranked as follows: chitosan/(MC-CoPc)/glutamic acid > chitosan/(MC-CoPc)/CMC > chitosan/(MC-CoPc) > chitosan/CMC. These results highlight the potential of these hybrid amide biocomposites as highly efficient antimicrobial materials suitable for use in drug delivery systems and other biomedical applications.