Antimicrobial protonated polydiallylamines: how to retain bactericidal efficiency at minimal toxicity

A family of antimicrobial protonated diallylammonium polymers has been synthesized by classical and RAFT polymerization in a wide range of molecular weights (MWs) of about (8–118) × 10³ g mol⁻¹. Based on the study on toxicity relative to eukaryotic cells (epithelioid line of human lung carcinoma and line of green monkey kidney) and bactericidal activity of polymers (relative to Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and M. smegmatis), we distinguish two groups of polymers promising as disinfectant and for medical applications. These are polymers with a sufficiently large MW (more than 50 × 10³ g mol⁻¹) and samples with a low MW (18 × 10³ g mol⁻¹ and lower); their biocidal activity is an order of magnitude higher or slightly higher (selectivity about 1.16) than their cytotoxicity.