Question

.........disinfectant kills the pathogens by disturbing membranes and coagulating proteins.

• A. QAC
• B. Alcohols
• C. Iodine
• D. Chlorine

Hint:

Pure (\(100\%\)) alcohol is a less effective disinfectant than a \(70\%\) aqueous alcohol solution.
Water is essential for the process because it prevents rapid evaporation and helps open up the protein structure, allowing the alcohol to deture the bacterial proteins more effectively.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Disinfectants are chemical agents applied to inimate surfaces to destroy vegetative pathogens, preventing food contamition and disease transmission.
Different classes of disinfectants utilize distinct biochemical mechanisms to disrupt and kill microbial cells.

Step 2: Detailed Explation:
Let us review the biocidal mechanisms of the given disinfectants:
• Alcohols (such as ethanol and isopropanol): These compounds act rapidly by solubilizing and disrupting the lipid bilayer of microbial cell membranes. They also enter the cell and cause rapid deturation and coagulation of cytoplasmic and structural proteins, leading to cell death. Alcohols are most effective at concentrations of \(60-90\%\) in water, as water is necessary to facilitate protein deturation.

• Quaterry Ammonium Compounds (QACs): These are cationic surfactants that primarily disrupt cell membranes, leading to leakage of cytoplasmic contents, but do not coagulate proteins as their primary mechanism.

• Chlorine and Iodine: These are halogens that act primarily as strong oxidizing agents, reacting with sulfhydryl groups and disrupting cellular enzyme systems, rather than acting through membrane dissolution and mass protein coagulation.
Thus, Alcohols best fit the description.

Step 3: Fil Answer:
The correct option is (B).