Green Chemical Technologies for a Sustainable Future

Our Technology

We offer several products based on numerous chemical technologies. Many of our patents as well as our Stay Fresh technology are based upon hydrogen peroxide in zinc oxide binder.

Stay-Fresh Technology

An Antimicrobial technology developed by QMT known as Stay-Fresh is a platform technology that sequesters hydrogen peroxide in a solid matrix particulate to provide durable antimicrobial efficacy. Stay-Fresh works through a mechanism involving disruption of cell walls and oxidative dissolution of organelles. The Stay-Fresh formulation is based on the safest and most sustainable antimicrobial mechanism available: hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 or HP). Peroxide has been at work in nature for thousands of generations, defending animals and humans against pathogenic invaders. Peroxide, also called ‘Nature’s own antimicrobial’, is the chemistry that the human body utilizes to prevent infections (occurs in saliva) and spoilage (occurs naturally in milk) and overcome invasive pathogens systemically (peroxide secreted by white blood cells to kill invading pathogens as part of phagocytosis). The only degradation products of hydrogen peroxide are water and oxygen, so there are no concerns about toxicity of its degredation products.

Nimbus Technology

NIMBUS® technology is based on a polymeric quaternary biocidal molecule poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride), or polyDADMAC. The patented active antimicrobial agent is bound onto a solid surface, and acts on pathogens by physically disrupting the prokaryotic cell wall. The mechanism of cell wall disruption is induced by polymeric cationic biocides in detail as shown graphically. Cationic polymer chains coordinate to the anionic segments of the phospholipid membrane, displacing stabilizing calcium ions. As increasing numbers of cell membrane molecules coordinate to the polymer, the integrity of the bacterial membrane is compromised, leading to gaps and holes in the cell wall. This technology was cleared by FDA as the only acknowledged non-leaching microbicide in 2009, and has an excellent history of safe use globally in wound care. Here we discuss uses of NIMBUS as a microbicide that is added into containers of ocular solutions to keep the contents preserved without leaching toxic chemicals into the fluid.

Both technologies have been developed and implemented in Wound Care, as cleared by FDA for use directly on wound beds due to the excellent biocompatibility of both of the technologies. But equally important is that these technologies can be safely applied prophylactically due to safety and because the specific mechanism of action are designed with good Antimicrobial Stewardship as a primary goal. Due to their mechanisms of antimicrobial efficacy, which is by dissolving the cell wall, the ability for pathogens to evolve antimicrobial resistance is minimized, AND both technologies have been extensively tested and proven effective against pathogens that have evolved resistance to various antibiotics and other antimicrobials, such as VRE, and MRSA. The following graphics provide an illustration of the biocidal mechanism of NIMBUS and basic background information about Stay Fresh.