Antimicrobial activity on glass materials subject to disinfectant xerogel coating.

The antimicrobial compound dodecyl-di(aminoethyl)-glycine was immobilized in a silicon oxide xerogel matrix and used for glass surface coating. Coated glasses were tested for surface antimicrobial activity. The utilization of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as a silicon oxide polymer precursor, using the dip-coating process, allowed for the generation of transparent thin films over glass surfaces. Different concentrations of the antimicrobial compound were used to generate the coatings. The presence of dodecyl-di(aminoethyl)-glycine on coated and uncoated slides was analyzed by FT-IR spectra. Coated glass slides were exposed to suspensions of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus for 24 h. Surface contamination was evaluated by the microbial plate count technique. When antimicrobial-coated glasses were compared with antimicrobial-free coated glasses, the former showed greater than 99% reduction of colony-forming units (cfu) for E. coli and P. aeruginosa, when 1% of antimicrobial was present in the coating solution. The same percentage of reduction for S. aureus was achieved when 1.5% of the antimicrobial was present in the coating solution. In a direct inhibition test on agar plates, no inhibitory zone was observed, indicating that the antimicrobial did not diffuse into the media.