Comparison of Rosin and Propolis Antimicrobials in Cellulose Acetate Fibers Against Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

The quantitative difference in the antibacterial response was measured for pine rosin and propolis against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 12598. The activity was studied for fibrous networks that form entirely bio-based cellulose-acetate (CA) materials. The analysis considers the effects of bacterial input, additive dosage, solvent type, variation in preparation, as well as the effect of storage time. Based on the results, the electrospun network structure is dependent on the solvent and the concentration of rosin and propolis. Both rosin and propolis improved the cellulose acetate solution processability, yet they formed beads at high concentrations. Rosin and propolis created strong antibacterial properties when these material systems were immersed in the liquid for 24 h at room temperature. The response remained visible for a minimum of two months. The electrospun networks of water and DMAc solvent systems with 1 to 5 wt% rosin content were clearly more efficient (i.e., decrease of 4 to 6 logs in colony forming units per mL) than the propolis networks, even after two months. This efficiency is likely due to the high content of abietic acids present in the rosin, which is based on the Fourier transform infrared spectra. The results of the additional analysis and cell cultivation with dermal fibroblast cells indicated an impairing effect on skin tissue by the rosin at a 1 wt% concentration compared to the pure CA fibers.

Effects of pine rosin on the degradation of mechanical performance in flax-reinforced polymeric composites after soil burial at low temperatures

“…Pine rosin (specifically gum rosin) was provided by Forchem (Rauma, Finland): batch ww-16032017 with an acid value of 167 mg KOH/g. This rosin batch had a softening point of 74 °C and the onset of thermal degradation at 200 to 220 °C; more details about the behavior of this rosin batch can be found in recent works (Kanerva et al 2019;Kanerva et al 2020). Rosin (RO) was received in the form of solid crushed particles with a proper size for compounding.…”