In situ borneol-modified polyester with antibacterial adhesion and long-term fungal-repellent properties

Polyester is widely used in biomedical, textile, and food packaging fields. Therefore, enhancing it with antimicrobial properties would be a significant advancement. In this paper, a series of borneol-triazine polyesters (BTPs) with different structures are synthesized through room temperature polycondensation. The structure and composition of BTPs are systematically characterized by ¹H NMR, FTIR and GPC. Antimicrobial results reveal that the ability of BTPs to resist bacterial or fungal adhesion is directly related to the polymer structure. When the polymer chain of BTPs adopts a rigid structure, they exhibit excellent anti-adhesive and inhibitory performances against both Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus). Meanwhile, the as-synthesized BTPs poses a fungal-repelling effect on common fungal strains (Aspergillus niger) for up to 30 d. Further studies have shown that a stereochemical structure brought by borneol is key for imparting effective antimicrobial properties to BTPs. In addition, BTPs are non-leaching materials with low cellular cytotoxicity. Taking into consideration, BTP provides a potential strategy for preparing a new class of antimicrobial polyester materials.