Joerg C. Tiller, Chun-Jen Liao, Kim Lewis, and Alexander M. Klibanov

PNAS 98, 11: 5981-5985

A glass surface modified by hexyl-PVP either by a graft copolymerization with 4-vinylpyridine and subsequent N-hexylation or by the attachment of partially N-hexylated PVP kills more than 90% of deposited Staphylococcus aureus cells and more than 90% of deposited Staphylococcus epidermis, Psuedomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli cells in a dry state. Becasue such surface modifications can be performed readily with a number of other materials, this approach may prove generally useful in coating various consumer and medical products to make their surfaces antibacterial.