Tertiary-butyl functional moietie

Further work by Palermo and Kuroda extended the library of molecules to indude tertiary amine- and quaternary ammonium-fimctionalized methacrylates. For this series, cationic monomers were polymerized with methyl and butyl acrylate monomers. As with the styrene-based polymers of Gelman et al, the quaternary ammonium series was much less antimiaobial and somewhat less hemolytic than the primary and tertiary amine series. Again, titration of the polymers showed that there is partial deprotonation of the amine functionalities at neutral pH. The deprotonated moieties are more hydrophobic than the ammonium salts, and thus inaease the membrane activity of the polymers. No explanation was given, however, for the inaeased activity of the primary amine polymers over the tertiary amine polymers. 

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