Activated carbon was synthesized from Thespesia Populnea Bark, a low cost material, by sulphuric acid activation; it was tested for its ability to eliminate malachite green in aqueous solution. The parameters studied included contact time, initial dye concentration, carbon dose, pH and temperature. The adsorption followed first order rate equation. In addition, it was found that the adsorption process was described by Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. Those models were applied to the equilibrium data. The absorption capacities (Qm) obtained from the Langmuir isotherm plots were 349.20, 365.43, 476.44, and 389.96 mg/g at 30°, 40°, 50°, and 60°C, respectively, at an initial pH 6.0. The temperature variation study showed that the malachite green dye absorption was endothermic and spontaneous with increased randomness at the solid solution interface. The thermodynamic parameters like ∆H°, ∆S°, and ∆G° were calculated from the slope and intercept of the linear plots.

A set of antibacterial polyesters, with inherent multibiomedical properties, comprising biobased monomers such as ricinoleic acid and itaconic acid together with α,ω-aliphatic diols, were synthesized via a greener synthetic route. The structures of the synthesized biobased unsaturated polyesters were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared and NMR spectral studies. The molecular weight of the prepolymers was determined by gel permeation chromatography analysis. The cured polymeric membranes were structurally characterized by attenuated total reflection infrared and powder X-ray diffraction. The mechanical, thermal, wettability, swelling, and sol content measurements of the cured polyester membranes were studied. The synthesized polyesters showed significant antibacterial activity against the Gram-positive bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus. The polyesters IRPe, IRD, and IRDd had shown potent anticancer activity against human liver cancer HepG2 cells and human breast cancer MCF7 cells. The highly hydrophilic IRH polyester was tested for its cell adhesive nature in mouse fibroblast cells (L929). The hydrophilicity, slow in vitro degradability, and cell adhesive capacity favor the exploration of these polymers further as drug carriers or as scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. The antibacterial and anticancer activities together with compatibility in normal human kidney embryonic Hek 293 cells exhibit the potentiality of these polymeric biomaterials to find application as anticancer drugs and antibacterial agents.

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