Natural Product-Based Phenolic and Nonphenolic Antimicrobial Food Preservatives and 1,2,3,4-Tetrahydroxybenzene as a Highly Effective Representative: A Review of Patent Literature 2000-2005

Abstract

Conventional chemical preservatives used in prevention of food spoilage caused by microorganisms have shown adverse effects and found to be of low effectiveness. This challenging situation stimulated research to find alternatives. As a result, numerous natural product-based compounds have been patented for use as antimicrobial food preservatives. These compounds comprise phenolic and non-phenolic ones. The phenolic agents include mainly those composed of a single aromatic ring and flavonoid-derived molecules. The phenolic compounds display multifunctional activities, while the nonphenolic do not. Polyhydroxybenzene derivatives exhibit high potential as effective antimicrobial or as antioxidants agents. Among the later category is 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroxybenzene (THB). THB has been recently patented as a highly effective antimicrobial and antioxidant agent. It showed significant and broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity versus a wide range of gram-positive, gram-negative bacteria, yeasts, and fungi, including pathogenic and non-pathogenic organisms. Its effectiveness as an antioxidant is equal or superior to commonly used antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). Production of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroxybenzene was accomplished efficiently by adopting a bioengineered synthesis, that is recently disclosed. In addition, there is also a patented simple chemical method.

Potential impact of biocide adaptation on selection of antibiotic resistance in bacterial isolates

“…The mechanism of action of phenols and bisphenols is believed to be the disturbance of the cytoplasmic membrane leading to a rapid release of the intracellular components. Though, TCS has a specific target, the enoyl-ACP reductase in bacteria, encoded by the fabI gene, which is involved in fatty acid synthesis [13,14].…”

The Use of Plant Antimicrobial Compounds for Food Preservation

“…Simple bioactive phytochemicals are comprised of a single substituted phenolic ring [ 41 ]. There is some evidence that the sites and number of hydroxyl groups on the phenolic ring are related to the degree of toxicity to microorganisms, with increased hydroxylation resulting in increased toxicity.…”

Synergistic and Antagonistic Interactions of Phenolic Compounds Found in Navel Oranges

“…There is a current interest in developing or discovering effective natural preservatives (Galal 2006). Approaches include the use of extracts (Serra and others 2008; Conte and others 2009), phenolic compounds (Rodríguez Vaquero and Nadra 2008), or mixtures of compounds (Oliveira and others 2010) as antimicrobial agents.…”