Preparation and Antimicrobial Evaluation of Neem Oil Alkyd Resin and Its Application as Binder in Oil-Based Paint

Neem oil Alkyd resin (NOAR) was synthesized by alcoholysis and polycondensation using glycerol and phthalic anhydride respectively at 230-250°C. The alkyd resin was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, viscometry, solubility in various solvents and antimicrobial activity against some selected bacterial species. FT-IR analyses indicated the successful synthesis of alkyd resin as also evident from titrimetric determination of acid number of the mixture which decreases as the reaction progresses. Microbiological analyses of the resin show that it is active against some selected bacterial specie particularly at concentrations of 100 and 50mg/ml in DMSO. The synthesized resin was used as binder in the formulation of oil-based paints using varying resin concentration i.e. 0, 10, and 20% w/v. The prepared paints were found to have excellent fastness properties to light, water, alkali but poor to xylene. The results obtained suggested that NOAR can serve as binder with potential applications in the production of antimicrobial paints.