Abstract
Spherical microgel from a natural polymer, Gum Arabic (GA) with a high yield, 78.5±5.0% was successfully synthesized in a single step. Furthermore, a superporous GA cryogel were also prepared under cryogenic conditions. These GA microgel and cryogels were turn into ionic liquid (IL) forms by post modification reactions using triethylenetetraamine (TETA) as a linear amine source, and polyethyleneimine (PEI) as a branched amine source. The modified-GA-PEI (M-GA-PEI) microgel/cryogel were protonated with HCl and treated with [N(CN)2]−, [PF6]−, and [BF4]− anions to obtain GA based IL microgel and cryogels for the separation of bioactive molecules. The zeta potentials of GA microgel were changed from +52.15±4.8 to −27.30±4.2mV upon the post modification with PEI. The blood compatibility of the prepared GA based microgel and cryogel were investigated by means of hemolysis and blood clotting tests and found that all types of materials are compatible with blood with 4.89±0.69% maximum hemolysis ratio, and 75.6±5.6 minimum blood clotting index. The antimicrobial properties of GA microgels were determined by disc diffusion method and the quaternized PEI microgel (Q-GA-PEI) were effective in killing S. aureus (gram +) and E. coli (gram −) bacteria with 13±1mm inhibition zones. Furthermore, the separation capabilities of bioactive molecules such as ascorbic acid (AA), sodium diclofenac (SDC) and paraquat (PQ) were also determined by using the bare, modified and IL GA cryogel because of their super porous nature.
