Preparation of monodispersed core-shell microspheres with surface antibacterial property employing N-(4-vinylbenzyl)-N,N-diethylamine hydrochloride as surfmer

One-stage synthesis of monodispersed core-shell microspheres by exploratorily introducing a quaternary ammonium cationic surfmer of N-(4-vinylbenzyl)-N,N-diethylamine hydrochloride (VEAH) to emulsion polymerization of styrene (St) is reported. Due to the surface quaternary ammonium moieties and core-shell structure, the resultant PS-co-PVEAH core-shell microspheres have shown antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative bacteria E. coli and Gram-positive bacteria S. aureus. It is found that the quaternary ammonium group of VEAH moieties was the key factor that presented biocidal activity and the antimicrobial activity of the core-shell microspheres shows size dependence and core-shell microspheres with smaller particle size display higher antimicrobial activity.