ABSTRACT
Composite polymer materials are promising field of advanced material sciences with scope of using in biology, medicine, electronics, etc. Special attention is paid to fullerene-containing polymers which have unique features of both fullerenes and polymers. Modification by carbon nanoparticles results to occurrence of new properties of the polymer, for example, biological activity. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is one of the polymers capable to content nanocarbonic particles. In the present study, we report results of the tests that have been performed to compare physicochemical properties and biological activity of the PMMA films and PMMA/fullerene composite films. A solvent casting of perspective components (PMMA and fullerenes C60) from solutions was employed for film fabrication. The structural characteristics of the PMMA films modified with fullerenes were researched by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. Thermal behavior of the PMMA/C60 composites was studied by the DSC and TG techniques. It was found the DSC curve mode to be depended on the composite composition. The thermograms of pure PMMA and PMMA/C60 composite have presented that these film materials decomposed in three stages. According to the UV and IR spectroscopy data, it was suggested a non-covalent interaction of the PMMA donor macromolecules with the fullerene acceptor molecule. To assess bioactivity of pure PMMA and 356filled composite with fullerene the laboratory tests were conducted in biologic fluids (blood serum). We studied the influence of polymer materials researched on free-radical processes in blood serum in vitro. Lipid peroxidation was evaluated by induced chemiluminescence. We supposed that fullerene-containing films can influence peroxidation processes. Antimicrobial activity of PMMA/fullerene composites was tested against Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. The test results showed absolute death of the microorganisms under the modified film.
