Evaluation of Antifungal Activity of Carbonate Solvent – Part:1

Antimicrobial agents have been used in leather manufacturing to prevent leather products from microbial contamination. In this work, the antifungal activity of green solvent such as propylene carbonate was investigated against the mixed culture of fungi isolated from wet-blue using broth dilution/well diffusion. A concentration of 5% and above (propylene carbonate) showed effective antifungal activity against the mixed culture of fungi and the efficiency of propylene carbonate on the mixed culture increased with increasing concentration/volume. Propylene carbonate exhibited fungistatic activity against the mixed culture of fungi but it lost its activity after a certain period and fungal growth was observed again.  It was also found that 2% propylene carbonate in chrome tanning process effectively inhibited the fungal growth and the wet-blue can be preserved up to 30 days without any fungal attack.