Antibacterial Activity of Environmentally Sustainable Polyurethane Based Composites from Castor Oil

Abstract

In this present work, soft and hard antibacterial polyurethane sheets of different composition have been synthesized from castor oil based polyurethane and which was reinforced with natural and synthetic fibres such as jute, sisal, hemp and glass. The activity of polyurethane sheets and selected antibiotics was evaluated against four bacterial pathogens including Staphylococcusaureus, Streptococcus mutans, E.coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosausing modified disc diffusion method. Among the ten samples, hard polyurethanes displayed potential activity against bacterial pathogens E.coli and Streptococcus mutans. Polyurethane sheets showed the highest activity against E.coli which is comparable with zone of inhibition exhibited by streptomycin. Further studies are needed to improve the polyurethane sheets for medical applications.