Functionalization of chitosan (Cs) and modified polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) with 5-phenyl-
1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives was achieved for biological applications. Reaction of 5-phenyl-1,3,4-
oxadiazole-2-thiol (1) with both Cs and functionalized PMMA with 1,2-ethylenenediamine afforded
the grafted polymers 2 and 3, respectively. Additionally, reaction of compound 1 with
ethylchloroformate furnished O-ethyl S-(5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl) carbonothioate (4).
Similarly, grafting of compound 4 with both Cs and functionalized PMMA yielded polymers 5 and
6, respectively. Some of the grafted polymers were characterized using Fourier transform infrared
(FT-IR). The thermal properties of these polymers were investigated using thermo gravimetric
analysis (TGA) which displayed the first degradation of water and 5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole
derivatives followed by the degradation of the main Cs and PMMA chains. X-ray diffraction (XRD)
explained the crystal structure of the functionalized polymers with the appearance of Cs and PMMA
peaks and the new peaks that referred to oxadiazole moieties. The biological activity of these
polymers was investigated as antifungal agents where compound 1 showed the highest antifungal
activity.