I'm trying to determine if this stuff has a reasonable chance at doing what it's promising to do, so I thought I'd use tww knowledge base.

Basically its billed as an anti-microbial that is also a sealant(?) against future germ contact. Supposedly it performed well in a test at Pembroke, but only pointing to a single test result makes me do a double take. Would this be a good use for places like airports, hotels, etc?



http://www.microtexpur.co/technology.html

Quote :

"The technology behind Micro-Texpur’s® new product line is based on an exhaustive study of important scientific literature. Careful study of this literature showed that the surface of bacteria has a negative electrical charge. This means that if the bacteria could be brought into contact with a positively charged surface, it could be immobilized. Further study revealed that the positively charged surfaces of some polymers not only attracted bacteria but ruptured their cell walls on contact, eliminating them immediately and leaving no zone of inhibition – and thus no chance for them to mutate, adapt or reproduce. In technical terms, Micro-Texpur’s® antimicrobial products are co-polymerized monomers of ammonium chloride salt combined with silane (SiH4) chemistry."

[Edited on September 30, 2012 at 7:19 PM. Reason : .]

9/30/2012 7:18:43 PM

Quote :

"To confirm our outstanding Micro-Texpur® technology test results, we took it to one of the leading micro-biology testing laboratories in the United States: the Department of Biology at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke."

No idea about the product, but lol at that part

9/30/2012 7:23:22 PM

If it works that would be awesome, but the vague descriptions on the site of how it works makes me a bit wary. A link to a peer-reviewed paper would be good. Also, they say a lot of what it isn't but not a lot of what it is.

9/30/2012 8:38:56 PM

Are they even a real company? Their building is stock photography

9/30/2012 9:04:52 PM

Antimicrobial surfaces are a real thing, and have been around for a while.

Bronze is a natural anti bacterial material for example.

There's plenty of published research on these type of materials... probably a google scholar search for those materials might turn something up.

9/30/2012 10:08:59 PM

We have both excellent microbiology and material science departments at State. Why didn't they just
take the product there for testing?

If they have a peer reviewed article, I would expect it from either an industrial micro or materials journal.
Also, where the hell is this lit they claim shows "bacteria have a negative electrical charge"?

But, if it does work, it would have some pretty sweet healthcare applications- especially if they can figure
out a way to work it into invasive things- IV and Foley caths, surgical instruments, heart valves, etc. It would help
discourage vegetative growth of microorganisms and reduce infections.

10/1/2012 8:37:16 AM

their patent:
Method for providing antimicrobial composite yarns, composite fabrics and articles made therefrom
http://www.google.com/patents/US7939686

Quote :

" 1. A method for providing antimicrobial properties to a composite item, comprising: immersing a composite item in an aqueous bath comprising an organic antimicrobial agent, wherein said organic antimicrobial agent is silicone based quaternary ammonium salt that is a copolymer of a long chain (C.sub.12-C.sub.20) alkyldimethylaminotrihydroxysilylpropyl ammonium halide and a chloroalkyltrihydroxysilane; separating the immersed composite item from the bath; and drying the separated composite item at a temperature of from 50-90.degree. C., wherein the composite item is a member selected from the group consisting of composite yarns, composite fabrics and composite articles; wherein the resulting composite item retains antimicrobial properties for at least 40 wash cycles; wherein the antimicrobial properties can be regenerated after one or more uses by contacting the treated item with a hypochlorite solution. "

Quote :

"For providing antimicrobial properties to a composite yarn, the present process can be used with the composite yarn at any stage after assembly of the yarn. If used in a continuous type process (within the context of the present invention a continuous type process includes both truly continuous processes and semi-continuous processes in which there are periodic stops for product type changes, other line modifications or for any other reason), the application of the antimicrobial liquid can be performed after assembly but prior to take up on a yarn package or bobbin. The application in such a continuous process can be done by immersion through a bath, followed by drying using an in-line dryer. Drying can alternatively be performed in such a continuous process by use of a heated drying roll around which the composite yarn is wrapped. Drying time can be adjusted based upon the size of the drying roll and the number of wraps of yarn around the roll. In a batch type process, the composite yarn is assembled, taken up on a bobbin, then the entire composite yarn package (yarn wound around the bobbin) is immersed in the antimicrobial agent bath. After immersion for a period of time sufficient to provide complete penetration of the antimicrobial agent liquid throughout the bobbin (preferably from 5-60 seconds), the package is removed from the bath, excess water drained, and the package placed in a heater at the drying temperature. "

10/1/2012 9:19:11 AM

Yeah, there's just enough info to sound promising and legitimate, but shit like the whole "bacteria has a negative charge thing" sounds like a set up for a placebo effect.

^ do I read that patent right? Immersion =/= topical application? (which is what their company is selling I believe).

10/1/2012 9:36:43 AM

the first claim is the immersion, all of the other claims are applications of it. one of the other enumerated claims is that you can use immersed composite fibers to form composite materials.

the actual stuff that makes it antimicrobial is stuff that is already used, is not new, and is not included in the patent. their patent basically says, "this is what is used, these other things can be used too".

so no, its not like a spray or something you apply, they did the applying

10/1/2012 9:47:02 AM

There's nothing 'nano' about this crap. Maybe how it forms a monolayer on cotton through the use of silanes, but its a very weak definition and they're just trying the 'shock and awe' approach.

They say its based on immersion because it is. From the products you can see that they have jugs of the chemical, not aerosol. You probably have to dunk your socks in a bucket of 1:100 diluted chemical. The chemical goes through a sol-gel reaction to bond to the cotton and the functional groups have anti-microbial properties.

They include the methods for application and drying in the patent in case they ever want to produce their own antimicrobial clothing.

Overall sounds like they're just marketing a common-use chemical product using flashy words. They fucked up with the "silane (SiH4)" line because that's not the silane they're referring to...that silane is a gas that detonates in air. They're referring to "R-Si(OCH3)3" and similar chemicals which get commonly referred to as silanes.

I can't comment much on how they say the anti-microbial part works, but the application mechanism seems simple and well-used enough to get moderately durable coatings. I'd be wary of the UNC Pembroke shit and the massive amount of hand-waving over scientific details.

[Edited on October 1, 2012 at 10:18 AM. Reason : asdf]

10/1/2012 10:16:58 AM

They do already produce antimicrobial clothing under one of their other companies

10/1/2012 10:18:29 AM

The pitch we were given is that this could be applied in a spray-on or paint-on type fashion to transient areas like airport seats, bathroom counters in hotel and rental homes, etc. My initial questions were more along the lines of expected lifespan before reapplication, but the more I dug into the product the more it smelled like smoke-and-mirror flavored bullshit.

So I turned to tww for expert analysis

10/1/2012 1:39:36 PM

polycationic polymers are routinely used in this antimicrobial function. I can provide numerous references if you would like, but you might search for "anti-fouling surfaces" on web of knowledge, if you have access to that, or using google scholar.

A post doc at my old lab did her Ph.D. at University of Florida in the lab of Dr. Anthony Brennan. Some of his IP led to the spinoff of this company, based in Colorado:

http://www.sharklet.com/

Instead of using cationic charge, which does work to kill bacteria but difficult to maintain, they're using micropatterned surfaces that provide a similar effect with longer lifetimes. I'm not entirely familiar with their product line, but people who are say this is a really viable technology.

10/5/2012 10:12:49 AM