Synthesis and Antibacterial Activity of Azo-Sulfa-Based Disperse Dyes and Their Application in Polyester Printing

Abstract

For conjugating sulfa drug moieties with Schiff’s bases scaffold in the same build through an azo linker to take advantage of the bioactive feature of both motifs, we designed and synthesized a series of bioactive disperse dyes. The target disperse dyes, methyl 2-(E-2-hydroxy-5-((E)-(4-sulfa-derivative) diazenyl)benzylidene) hydrazine-1-carbodithioates 4a–e have been synthesized via the acidic reaction of azo dyes 3a–e with methyl hydrazine carbodithioate. Structures of the synthesized dyes were clarified based on their spectral and elemental analyses. The effectiveness of the dyes was initially tested as an antibacterial toward Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538-P and Escherichia coli ATCC 25933. Dyes that were proven to be effective against bacteria have been used as disperse dyes to print polyester fabrics. The color properties of the dyes and their fastness properties counting washing, perspiration, light, rubbing, and sublimation fastness were also examined. The printed polyester fabrics were evaluated for their antibacterial activity via colony-forming unit (CFU) technique. Fabric samples treated with 4c, 4d, and 4b had promising anti-Gram-positive activities against S. aureus. Whereas 4c-, 4d-, and 4b-treated fabrics exhibited moderate anti-Gram-negative activities against the test bacterium E. coli.