UV-thermal dual cured anti-bacterial thiol-ene networks with superior performance from renewable resources

Bio-based anti-bacterial cross-linked films with superior properties were prepared via UV-thermal induced thiol-ene "click" reaction of diallyl itaconate (DAI), eugenol allyl ether (EAE) with trimethylolpropane tris (3-mercaptopropionate). DAI and EAE were made from one-step reaction of itaconic acid and eugenol with ally! bromide, respectively. The curing behaviors studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and gel content measurement illustrated that UV-thermal dual cure technology made the thiol-ene reaction more completely and produced films with higher performance compared with UV cure technology. The investigation of the thermal and mechanical properties of the cross-linked films by DSC, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and tensile test indicated that the glass transition temperature, tensile strength and modulus of the films were significantly improved after introducing DAI, and all the films exhibited similar and high thermal stability. Meanwhile, these bio-based polymer films showed excellent efficiency in killing common bacterias, e.g. S. aureus and E. coli in the dynamic shake test. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.