Bactericidal effect through non-uptake pathway with photofunctional silicon polymer that generates reactive oxygen species

We report bactericidal effect of photosensitizer (H₂TPP: 5,10,15,20-tetraphenyl-21H,23H-porphyrin) through non-uptake pathway and efficacy of the photofunctional silicon polymer to the decomposition of the formed biofilm and the suppression of the biofilm formation. The photofunctional silicon polymer (PSP), which is the silicon polymer embedded with a photosensitizer, is fabricated by a simple solvent swell-encapsulation-shrink method. Reactive oxygen generation from PSP was confirmed by using the decomposition reaction of 1,3-diphnyl-isobenzofuran (DPBF). Also, singlet oxygen generation which is one of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) from PSP is directly confirmed with time and wavelength resolved singlet oxygen phosphorescence spectroscopy. For the influence study of ROS under the non-uptake condition of photosensitizer (PS to bacteria), photodynamic inactivation (PDI) effect of PSP is evaluated for Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria, and fungi. Those microorganisms were inactivated by PSP within 1 h under the given power of laser light (63.7 mW/cm²). Among the bacteria, especially, Staphylococcus aureus as the Gram-positive bacteria were completely disinfected under the given experimental condition. Furthermore, PSP successfully demonstrates the decomposition of the formed biofilm and the suppression of the biofilm formation with green light emitting diode (GLED, 3.5 mW/cm², λ_max = 517 nm, FWHM = 37 nm), which shows the practical application possibility of bactericidal material.