Selective synthesis of N,N,N-trimethylated chitosan derivatives at different degree of substitution and investigation of structure-activity relationship for activity against P. aeruginosa and MRSA

Two new cationic chitosan derivatives were synthesized using a combination of Boc and TBDMS protection strategies. This included a series of six samples of the TMCNH2/TM derivative, where some of the amino groups were N,N,N-trimethylated and the remaining was in the primary state. A series of six samples of the TACin derivative, where some of the amino groups were N-acetylated with quaternary 2-(N,N,N-trimethylammoniumyl) acetyl group and the remaining fully N-acetylated, were also synthesized. The degree of substitution (DS) for quaternary amino groups in these series ranged from 0.06–0.89. TMCDM/TM derivatives with a mix of N,N,N-trimethylated and N,N-dimethylated groups were also synthesized according to a published procedure but in this case, it was more difficult to control the DS than with the TBDMS protection strategy.