Jose Maria Lagaron & Maria Jose Ocio 
Antimicrobial Polymers 

The pioneering guide on the design, processing, and testing
of antimicrobial plastic materials and coatings

The manifestation of harmful microbes in plastic materials used
in medical devices and drugs, water purification systems, hospital
equipment, textiles, and food packaging pose alarming health
threats to consumers by exposing them to many serious infectious
diseases. As a result, high demand for intensifying efforts in the
R&D of antimicrobial polymers has placed heavy reliance on both
academia and industry to find viable solutions for producing safer
plastic materials. To assist researchers and students in this
endeavor, Antimicrobial Polymers explores coupling
contaminant-deterring biocides and plastics–focusing
particular attention on natural biocides and the nanofabrication of
biocides. Each chapter is devoted to addressing a key technology
employed to impart antimicrobial behavior to polymers, including
chemical modification of the polymers themselves. A host of
relevant topics, such as regulatory matters, human safety, and
environmental risks are covered to help lend depth to the book’s
vital subject matter. In addition, Antimicrobial
Polymers:

* Discusses the design, processing, and testing of antimicrobial
plastic materials

* Covers interdisciplinary areas of chemistry and microbiology

* Includes applications in food packaging, medical devices,
nanotechnology, and coatings

* Details regulations from the U.S. (FDA and EPA) and EU as well
as human safety and environmental concerns

Achieving cleaner and more effective methods for improving the
infection-fighting properties of versatile and necessary plastic
materials is a goal that stretches across many scientific fields.
Antimicrobial Polymers combines all of this information into
one volume, exposing readers to preventive strategies that harbor
vast potential for making exposure to polymeric products and
surfaces a far less risky undertaking in the future.

Table of Content

PREFACE vii

CONTRIBUTORS ix

1 ANTIMICROBIAL PACKAGING POLYMERS. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1

Jose´ M. Lagaron, Maria J. Ocio, and Amparo
Lopez-Rubio

2 BACTERIAL RESISTANCE AND CHALLENGES OF BIOCIDE PLASTICS
23

Nibras A.A.M. Ahmed

3 ‘CLICK CHEMISTRY’ TO DERIVED ANTIMICROBIAL
POLYMERS 51

P. Lecomte, R. Riva, and C. Jerome

4 CHITOSAN AND CHITOSAN BLENDS AS ANTIMICROBIALS 71

Patricia Fernandez-Saiz

5 THYMOL IN NANOCOMPOSITES. A CASE STUDY 101

Maria Dolores Sanchez-Garcia

6 BACTERIOCINS IN PLASTICS 117

Gianluigi Mauriello and Francesco Villani

7 ANTIMICROBIAL ENZYMES AND NATURAL EXTRACTS IN PLASTICS
159

Marcella Mastromatteo, Marianna Mastromatteo, Amalia Conte, and
Matteo Alessandro Del Nobile

8 ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDES 195

Jose F. Marcos and Paloma Manzanares

9 RECOMBINANT ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDES 227

J. Carlos Rodriguez-Cabello, Carmen Garcia-Arevalo, Alessandra
Girotti, Laura Martin, and Mercedes Santos

10 NOVEL ANTIMICROBIALS OBTAINED BY ELECTROSPINNING METHODS
261

Sergio Torres-Giner

11 SILVER- AND NANOSILVER-BASED PLASTIC TECHNOLOGIES 287

Antonio Martinez-Abad

12 ANTIMICROBIAL PLASTICS BASED ON METAL-CONTAINING NANOLAYERED
CLAYS 317

Jose´ M. Lagaron and Maria A. Busolo

13 NANOMETALS AS ANTIMICROBIALS 327

R.P. Allaker, M.A. Vargas-Reus, and G.G. Ren

14 TITANIUM DIOXIDE-BASED PLASTIC TECHNOLOGIES 351

Marta Fernandez-Garcia, Maria L. Cerrada, Anna Kubacka, and
Marcos Fernandez-Garcia

15 TISSUE-IMPLANT ANTIMICROBIAL INTERFACES 379

E. Marsich, A. Travan, I. Donati, G. Turco, F. Bellomo, and S.
Paoletti

16 CHARACTERIZING THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CELL MEMBRANES AND
ANTIMICROBIALS VIA SUM-FREQUENCY GENERATION VIBRATIONAL
SPECTROSCOPY 429

Christopher W. Avery and Zhan Chen

17 GAS-BASED ANTIMICROBIALS IN ACTIVE PACKAGING 459

Siriyupa Netramai, Maria Rubino, and Loong-Tak Lim

18 CURRENT LEGISLATION IN ANTIMICROBIALS 489

Javier Gomez

19 HUMAN SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS ASSOCIATED WITH THE
USE OF BIOCIDES 527

Orla Condell, Carol Iversen, Karen Power, and Seamus
Fanning

INDEX 561

About the author

JOSé M. LAGARóN, Ph D, is Founder and Group-Leader
of the Novel Materials and Nanotechnology Group of the Institute of
Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA) of the Spanish Council for
Scientific Research (CSIC) in Valencia, Spain. and is part-time
Professor of Materials Science at the Universitat Jaume I. Dr.
Lagaron has published more than one hundred peer-reviewed papers, a
book and several book chapters, and has fourteen patent
applications in nanotechnology applied to polymers.

MARÍA J. OCIO, Ph D, is a Food Technologist Tenure
Track Lecturer at the Preventive Medicine Department of the
University of Valencia and also project leader within the Novel
Materials and Nanotechnology Lab at the Institute of Agrochemistry
and Food Technology of CSIC. She has a wide knowledge and
experience in the handling of microorganisms of interest in the
food industry. Dr. Ocio has over forty publications in
peer-reviewed international journals.

AMPARO LóPEZ-RUBIO, Ph D, is a research scientist and
project leader within the Novel Materials and Nanotechnology Group
of the IATA-CSIC. She has published over thirty-five papers in
peer-reviewed international journals on the subjects of food
technology, nanotechnology, packaging and biopackaging.