SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NEW SCHIFF BASES FOR CHITOSAN AND STUDY THEIR ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY

Abstract

Biopolymers and their derivatives have a wide range applications due to their biodegradability, low toxicity, and biocompatibility. The current study aimed to develop and characterize the unique Schiff ^,s chitosan bases by conjugation the chitosan with different aldehydes under acidic conditions to form Schiff ^,s chitosan bases which reacted with a plant extract derivative (capsaicin) to get new Schiff ^,s derivatives. The resulting compounds were diagnosed by using fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), as well as nuclear magnetic resonance(¹H-NMR). The biological activity of the new derivatives was  studied to know its importance and its applications in the medical fields, where the antibacterial activity of positive-gram bacteria, negative- gram bacteria and fungi was tested. The results showed an increase of the substituted chitosan  antibacterial activity against both positive-gram and negative- gram bacteria due to its  high capsaicin content, which is highly effective against bacteria and fungi.