Synthesis and characterization of novel azo-chitosan polymer derivatives for the antimicrobial activity

Azo-Chitosan-dimethylaniline polymer derivatives are promising polymers for biological applications. In this paper, chitosan reacted with 4-nitrosodimethylaniline to form azo-chitosan-dimethylaniline polymer (Chs-DAN) as the novel polymer via condensation reaction. Chs-DAN modificated by doping it with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and insertion it into betacyclodextrine cycle (βCD) to give Chitosan-dimethylaniline/ZnO (Chs-DAN/ZnO NPs) and Chitosan-dimethylaniline/βCD (Chs-DAN/βCD). The generated polymers were confirmed by using XRD, FTIR and SEM analysis. Gram + ve and Gram − ve antimicrobial as well as antifungal activities have been evidenced for all samples. The antimicrobial analysis showed that the synthesized chitosan derivatives (Chs-DAN, Chs-DAN/βCD, Chs-DAN/ZnO NPs) exhibited noticeable antimicrobial and antifungal activities as compared to pure samples (Chs, DAN, ZnO NPs, βCD).