Influence of polyester dendrimers on swelling and adsorption of metal ion of PVA/PAA hydrogels

In this study, polyester dendrimers based on triethanolamine were synthesized via a multi-step divergent approach. Triethanolamine was reacted with sebacoyl chloride and 1,4-butanediol as repeating units. The synthesized dendrimers up to G6.5 were characterized by FTIR, 1H-NMR. The incorporation of selected generations G2.5, G4.5 and G6.5 dendrimers into PVA/PAA films and the influence of added dendrimers on the properties of the films were investigated. The results showed the gel content increased with an increase in the dendrimers content and generation number. The incorporation of dendrimers increases the swelling ability of the films. The highest swelling obtained was at low dendrimers content 1 w% and highest generation number G6.5. The films exhibited pH-sensitive behaviors where they decrease at low pH and expanded at pH 10. The ability of metal adsorption Fe2+, Cu2+, Ni2+ and Zn2+ was investigated, the addition of dendrimers enhanced the film adsorption, and the adsorption capacity increased with the increase in pH. The antimicrobial activity of the polyester dendrimers G2.5, G4.5 and G6.5 was investigated, against gram-positive Staphylococcus arouse (S. arouse) and gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. The results showed that G6.5 had the highest antimicrobial activity against S. arouse.