Bactericidal Activity of CnTAB Surfactants.

Cultures of Escherichia coli were made up to the stipulated concentrations of the surfactants and gently swirled for the stipulated times after which the cultures were centrifuged and pellets were suspended and washed in the culture medium 2 times. After the final wash the bacterial pellet was diluted with culture medium 4×105 times and 30 µL of this suspension was plated on LB/agar plates which were incubated at 37°C for 18 h. The number of colonies was counted and the results were expressed as a percentage of control cultures that were not treated with surfactant.*** = p