Grant: Engage Plus Grants for colleges

Antimicrobials have become part of our lifes because they provide protection against the growth, transmission and spreading of different microorganisms including harmful or undesirable bacteria. For example, different products may be advantageously treated with antimicrobials to prevent or avoid: 1) bad odours (odor control), 2) deterioration (the antimicrobial is used as a preservative), and, 3) infection/contamination. Unfortunately, many antimicrocrobials are of concern for the environment because of their toxicity to fishes especially heavy metals like silver and copper. As the use of antimicrobials tends to increase, the scientific community turns to antimicrobial technologies that present lower toxicity, no leaching and possible regeneration of the antimicrobial activity. N-Chloramine compounds has shown great promises as they meet those criteria; however, they have shown a limited antimicrobial performance. A new class of antimicrobial compounds, comprising both N-halamine and quaternary ammonium moities i.e. cationic analogs of N-halamine, has been recently developped by Canadian researchers. The proposed work intends to develop, optimize and validate industrially viable processes to implement the new antimicrobial technology in various textile fabrics and food-contact films.