Facile strategy for the synthesis of antimicrobial poly(vinyl chloride) functionalized with benzimidazole

Synthesizing antimicrobial materials is a viable approach to combating microbes and mitigating their detrimental consequences on public health and economic domains. Here, we aim to design and synthesize hybrid polymers composed of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and benzimidazole derivatives, in addition to evaluating their antimicrobial efficacy. PVC was chemically functionalized affording 4 conjugates where the benzimidazole motif was incorporated indirectly into the PVC through a triazole ring combined with a short linker. This functionalized PVC was synthesized by employing Cu azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) conditions (click chemistry). The second functionalized PVC was synthesized by a nucleophilic substitution reaction to give 5, which has a benzimidazole moiety attached directly to the PVC via a short spacer arm. The benzimidazole derivatives and the corresponding benzimidazole‐PVC conjugates were investigated by elemental analysis and spectroscopic techniques (IR, NMR, and MS) as needed, besides UV–vis spectroscopy, x‐ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x‐ray spectroscopy (EDX) in the case of the polymeric conjugates. The SEM morphology demonstrated a change in the PVC surface after the modification, showing spongy structures. Furthermore, the chemical characterization using EDX revealed peaks representing C, O, and N, in addition to the characteristic Cl peaks. The benzimidazole derivatives and the corresponding functionalized PVC were evaluated as antimicrobial agents against a variety of Gram‐negative and Gram‐positive bacteria and fungi strains utilizing the well diffusion assay. The data revealed an improvement in the antimicrobial activity of the functionalized PVC (4) that contained triazolobenzimidazole against pathogenic Escherichia coli and S. typhimurium.Highlights Microbes have negative impact on public health and economic domains Synthesizing antimicrobial materials is a viable approach to combating microbes We herein synthesized PVC/benzimidazole hybrid polymers Functionalized PVC was synthesized and characterized by IR, NMR, SEM and EDX PVC/benzimidazole hybrids were evaluated as antimicrobial agents.