Preparation of Polycyclic Pendant Chalcone Moiety Based Antimicrobial Polyacrylamides

Biologically active chalcone-based acrylamide monomers were synthesized via the Claisen-Schmidt condensation and polymerized by a free radical polymerization technique using azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator. The newly synthesized polymers were characterized by FT-IR, H-1 NMR, and C-13 NMR analytic techniques. Thermal stability of the polymers was characterized by thermogravimetric analysis. The antimicrobial activity of polyacrylamides (PMNPA, PAPA, and PFPA) was evaluated from the minimum inhibitory concentration values by the resazurin reduction assay method. It is found that the polymers PMNPA and PAPA exhibit good antibacterial and antifungal activities, whereas polymer PFPA shows only antifungal activity and does not show any sign of antibacterial activity.