Drug–polymer conjugation is a simple and efficient approach to synthesizing new, effective, and potent antimicrobial agents to counter the problem of microbial resistance. In the present study, a PEGylated dopamine ester (PDE) was synthesized using the PEGylation process and synthesis of PDE was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis (CHNS–O), and atomic force microscopy techniques. Later, the antimicrobial activity of PDE was assessed against four strains of bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus vulgaris; Gram (−)) and two fungi (Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus fumigatus) by the agar well diffusion method. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of PDE was also determined by the broth dilution method against bacteria. PDE showed significant zones of inhibition ranged from 21 to 27 mm for bacteria and 16 to 20 mm for fungi under study, which were much higher than those for dopamine hydrochloride. MIC values of PDE showed its potential antimicrobial property.

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Nanocellulose has emerged as the most promising sustainable nanomaterial to develop cost-effective smart materials for various applications with consequential positive environmental impact. In the present study, we report spherical nanocellulose (SNC) modified with diethylenetriamine (DETA) and/or ethanolamine (EA) (SNC-DETA, SNC-EA, and SNC-DETA-EA) as Cu2+ ion sensors. Structure dependence of the sensing properties is the highlight of this work, as SNC-DETA-EA and SNC-DETA showed colorimetric naked-eye and fluorescent activity, with the former showing the same at very low ion concentrations with high selectivity, whereas SNC-EA lacked the same. The solution color changed rapidly to deep blue, and the fluorescence intensity was quenched when the ion concentration increased in the range 0.5–100 ppm, thus facilitating dual-channel ion detection. SNC-DETA-EA showed 1.03 ppm or a 1.622 × 10–5 M limit of detection and high Cu2+ ion uptake with maximum Langmuir capacity (q m) of 212.76 mg/g.