Activity Inhibition of Sulfate Reducing Bacteria Using Some Cationic Thiol Surfactants and Their Nanostructures

In the present work the application of some the synthesized cationic thiol surfactants and their nanostructures as potential biocides for the Sulfate Reducing Bacteria (SRB) was investigated. The nanostructures of the synthesized surfactants as nanopowders and with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were prepared and characterized using Transmission electron microscope (TEM). The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized surfactants and their nanostructures was measured against sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) by the inhibition zone method. If the bacteria are susceptible to a particular antibiotic, an area of clearing surrounds the wafer where bacteria are not capable of growing (called a zone of inhibition). This along with the rate of antibiotic diffusion is used to estimate the bacteria's sensitivity to that particular antibiotic. In general, larger zones correlate with smaller minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of antibiotic for those bacteria. This information can be used to choose appropriate antibiotics to combat a particular infection. The antibacterial results showed the improvement in the antibacterial activity of the synthesized surfactants using their nanostructures as nanopowder forms and with the AgNPs.