Abstract: Skin wound infections seriously threaten the lives of patients. Although traditional antibacterial hydrogels containing biocides such as silver ions or small molecule antibiotics have a broad-spectrum bactericidal effect and are used as wound dressings, the biological toxicity of silver ions and drug resistance of small molecule antibiotics cannot meet the requirements of long-term clinical application. The imidazolium salt-based poly(ionic liquids) are novel polymer antibacterial agents that exhibit strong antibacterial property, owing to their strong positive charge effect and hydrophobic polymer segments. In this study, imidazolium salt-based poly(ionic liquids) contained furan functional groups as strong antibacterial agents were synthesized by Radziszewski reaction. Then, the imidazolium salt-based poly(ionic liquids) were compounded with hyaluronic acid/polyethylene glycol by Diels-Alder “click” reaction to prepare antibacterial hydrogels. The in vitro assays show that the antibacterial hydrogels containing imidazolium salt-based poly(ionic liquids) can quickly kill bacteria and also have low toxicity towards human skin fibroblasts. This kind of hydrogels can be applied in various biomedical fields.

Key words: Antibacterial polymers, Poly(ionic liquids), “Click” reaction, Cytotoxicity, Hydrogel dressin