Chitosan-cobalt(II) and nickel(II) chelates as antibacterial agents.

Antibacterial behavior of chitosan-bivalent metal chelates (Co and Ni) was investigated in vitro against standard bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 4533, S. faecalis ATCC 8043 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25923. The chitosan-metal chelates were prepared by varying the molar ratio of metal ions to a fixed amount of chitosan. The metal ion contents, structural properties and morphology of the chelates were respectively determined using ICP-OES, FT-IR and SEM. All the chitosan-metal chelates showed wide spectrum of effective antibacterial activities better than free chitosan and the individual metal ions. The results indicated that inhibitory effects of the chelates were dependent not only on the property of the coordinated metal ion, but also on the molar ratio of the metal ion. Consequently, the ideal inhibitory effects could be obtained with metal ion of high charge intensity and when the molar ratio of chitosan to metal was above 1:1. These chelates are promising materials for novel antibacterial agents.