Preparation and characterization of antimicrobial, biodegradable, triclosan‐incorporated polyhydroxybutyrate‐co‐valerate films for packaging applications

Abstract

The prospective application of polyhydroxybutyrate-co-valerate (PHB-VA) as a biodegradable polymer for packaging through the incorporation of triclosan (TCS) was studied via thermal, mechanical, and antimicrobial studies. The solvent-casting technique was used for the preparation of PHB-VA-TCS blend films. The blend films were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and mechanical properties measurements. The addition of TCS to PHB-VA resulted in increased film stretchability along with improved flexibility. The crystallization and melting temperatures of PHB-VA decreased with increasing concentration of TCS. Scanning electron microscopy images showed a homogeneous dispersion of TCS in PHB-VA. The bactericidal activities of the PHB-VA-TCS blend films were investigated against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus by the disc-diffusion method. The blend films exhibited higher antibacterial activities with increasing concentration of TCS. We concluded from the study that TCS could be successfully incorporated into PHB-VA to obtain flexible antimicrobial films for packaging applications.

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) Modified by Nanocellulose and Plasma Treatment for Packaging Applications

“…Several agents were tested to obtain PHB-based biomaterials with antimicrobial activity for AP [25,26,27,28,29,30,31]. Natural antimicrobial agents such as vanillin [25], sophorolipid [26] or eugenol [27] were incorporated in PHB in different proportions using a solvent casting-evaporation method with chloroform as a solvent.…”

“…Synthetic antibacterial agents were also tested in PHB formulations; however, their concentration should be limited in the case of food packaging application [29,30]. Triclosan showed good bactericidal activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus after its incorporation in PHBV, and increased its flexibility, but significantly reduced its elastic modulus and tensile strength [29]. PHB modified by chlorhexidine digluconate showed a controlled release of the antibacterial agent into a food area [30].…”

Biodegradable Antimicrobial Films for Food Packaging: Effect of Antimicrobials on Degradation

“…The eugenol-containing nanoparticles were loaded in the 2.5-20 wt% range into PHBV by electrospinning. Sabharwal et al [62] incorporated triclosan (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 g w/w) to PHBV films obtained by casting that were very effective against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.…”

Nanobacterial Cellulose Production and Its Antibacterial Activity in Biodegradable Poly(vinyl alcohol) Membranes for Food Packaging Applications

“…Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have excellent properties such as biodegradability, optical transparency, anisotropy, low density, elasticity, degree of polymerization, good tensile strength, high wet uptake capacity, and three-dimensional ultrafine coherent network and have drawn much attention. − Apart from these characteristics, CNCs possess an adjustable surface chemistry to meet specific demands by tailoring the physicochemical properties due to their high aspect ratio, stiffness, and abundance of functional groups containing oxygen. CNCs can potentially be used as a new class of antimicrobial agent in the membrane matrix for the development of antimicrobial membranes for food packaging. − Tyagi et al reported that CNCs possess narrow and rigid characteristics and are able to inactivate microorganisms by puncturing the microbial cell membrane when they are incorporated into tissue paper, resins, paints, and packaging materials .…”