Cu complex grafted on the porous materials: synthesis, characterization and comparison of their antibacterial activity with nano-Cu/NaY zeolite

In this work, the copper complex is introduced to porous materials, MCM-41 and NaY zeolite, by two ways. In the first way, nano-copper was incorporated into NaY zeolite (NaY/nano-Cu), and in the second way, alkylaminopyridine/Cu complex grafted on MCM-41 and HY zeolite pores (Z-HY@Pr-Py, Z-HY@Pr-Py/Cu). The prepared composites have been characterized by several techniques: scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis chemical analysis, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. The results have been shown that the Cu complex and nano-copper ions were supported successfully on porous materials. The synthesized samples were investigated in vitro for antibacterial activity against Gram-positive (B. subtilis and S. aureus) and Gram-negative (E. coli and P. aeruginosa) bacteria and compared with standard drugs. The results show that introducing nano-copper or anchoring the Cu complex to porous materials has affected the inhibition of bacterial growth. Also, there is no significant releasing of copper ions from alkylaminopyridine/Cu complex which was grafted on porous materials in comparison with NaY/nano-Cu until 24 h.