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Bacterially induced degradation of aqueous solutions of poly( l ‐lysine)‐ graft ‐poly(ethylene glycol) and poly( l ‐lysine)‐ graft ‐dextran: consequences for their lubrication properties
Author(s) -
Argibay Nicolas,
Perrino Chiara,
Rimann Markus,
Lee Seunghwan,
Spencer Nicholas D.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
lubrication science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.632
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1557-6833
pISSN - 0954-0075
DOI - 10.1002/ls.99
Subject(s) - ethylene glycol , aqueous solution , peg ratio , degradation (telecommunications) , lubrication , chemistry , biodegradation , lysine , dextran , sodium azide , nuclear chemistry , polymer chemistry , chromatography , materials science , biochemistry , organic chemistry , amino acid , telecommunications , finance , computer science , economics , composite material
Abstract Experimental data are presented comparing the degradation in the lubrication behaviour of aqueous solutions of the brush copolymers poly( l ‐lysine)‐ graft ‐poly(ethylene glycol) (PLL‐ g ‐PEG) and poly( l ‐lysine)‐ graft ‐dextran (PLL‐ g ‐dex) when aged after exposure to bacterial contamination. While PLL‐ g ‐PEG solutions appear to be relatively unaffected by bacteria after a storage period of as much as 8 weeks, PLL‐ g ‐dex solutions exposed to bacteria during preparation lead to as much as a twofold increase in friction coefficient, when used as a lubricant in tribological tests, over an 8 week period when compared to reference data from freshly prepared and tested samples. Solutions prepared under sterile conditions and aged for up to 8 weeks do not appear to be degraded. Further experiments implementing the anti‐bacterial agent sodium azide effectively prevented bacterial colonization and degradation in lubrication behaviour. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.