The Influence of Chitosan towards Antibacterial Properties in Natural Leather

The abundant hydroxyl groups (-OH) of vegetable tanned leather enhances the bacterial growth possibility. In this work, antibacterial vegetable tanned leather was developed taking advantage of chitosan antibacterial activity. Different chitosan utilization method was conducted, namely drum impregnation and spraying. Antibacterial testing was carried out using agar diffusion method to identify the effect of chitosan against Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus). The results showed that the use of 1% (w/v) chitosan by spraying method tends to be more effective in improving the antibacterial properties of vegetable tanned leather. While, the leather sample of drum impregnation at initial pH 4 has the lowest antibacterial activity among others. The results of FTIR analysis showed that there was no significant difference between control and chitosan modified tanned leather, confirming the similar functional groups between it.