Quat (Quaternary Ammonium Cations) are most effective against gram-positive bacteria. Also good against fungi, amoeba, and enveloped viruses. Quats act by disrupting the cell membrane and proteins. Quats kill just about everything except endospores, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, lipid-containing viruses, and Pseudomonas spp. (some Pseudomonas spp. can even grow in solutions of quats, subsisting on them).
In contrast to phenolics, quats are not very effective in the presence of organic compounds. Yet quats are very effective in combination with phenols. Quats are deactivated by soaps, other anionic detergents, and cotton fibers.
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