Polymer-supported Photosensitizers for Antibacterial Applications

Treball Final de Grau en Química. Codi: QU0943. Curs acadèmic: 2019/2020In recent years, bacterial surface contamination has been reported as a potential way of spreading infections. Most important, the increasing resistance to antibiotics has become in a huge public health problem and developed a need for alternative ways to fight against these bacterial infections. Another major world-wide challenge is ensuring the access to clean water to developing countries, just as providing wastewater treatment to develop countries as its population growth. Many water-borne diseases come from contaminated water and current disinfection methods involve the use of aggressive chemicals and non-ecofriendly techniques.1 Photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy (PACT) is considered as an effective alternative of inactivating pathogenic microorganisms. The technique consists in the activation of the photosensitizer by irradiation to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). [...