Proteins as Promising Biobased Building Blocks for Preparing Functional Hybrid Protein/Synthetic Polymer Nanoparticles

Abstract

The pursuit of sustainable and environmentally friendly materials has been powered by environmental concerns and the decline in oil reserves. Among the different routes toward this end, the replacement of oil-based materials by renewable materials stands out. In this way, protein based materials have gained interest. This review article summarizes the progress achieved in the synthesis of hybrid protein/synthetic polymer nanoparticles which have the potential to be used in industrial applications. Although technical achievements and efficacy proofs concerning the increased compatibility of polymer/protein are already available, practical implementation in industry still represents an additional challenge and should be the focus of interest in future research. The available literature supports the potential of hybrid protein/polymer nanoparticles in the production of ecofriendly alternatives for large scale applications as coatings, paints, adhesives and films.

Synergistic combination between starch and proteins in the synthesis of new acrylic/biopolymers hybrid latexes

“…37 Moreover, a broad glass transition (broad peak in dDSC) for the acrylic copolymer can be appreciated for materials produced by batch polymerization, indicating a significant drift in the copolymer composition. This result was expected due to the difference in reactivity ratios for BA (1) and MMA (2) monomers, which are r 1 = 1.79 and r 2 = 0.29, 39 causing a drift in the composition of the copolymer produced along the batch polymerizations. On the other hand, when the semibatch strategy was employed, a narrower peak corresponding to T g,1 was observed, as a consequence that copolymerization was mainly governed by monomer feeding thus producing a copolymer with a more uniform composition.…”

“…Then, these radicals can polymerize with the available monomer, generating the co-poly(acrylic-graft-biopolymer). 1,44 The formation of co-poly(acrylic-graft-biopolymer) was confirmed by Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) (Figure S8). Spectra of pure BP and casein show the characteristic broad band at 3300 cm À1 attributed to the -OH, -NH stretching vibrations, and the characteristic peaks of amide I and amide II of proteins at 1650 and 1550 cm À1 , respectively.…”

“…Some of the natural raw materials widely used in the chemical industry include vegetable oils, polysaccharides, and proteins, among others. [1][2][3] Sofía F. Cabrera, Agustina Pighin, and Martin L. Chiana contributed equally to this study.…”

“…An ecofriendly modification alternative, is the biomaterials incorporation in waterborne hybrid nanoparticles (hybrid latexes) by emulsion polymerization, which appears as a sustainable process. 1 Furthermore, the correct synergy between the biopolymer and the synthetic polymer is achieved through an adequate compatibilization in the hybrid nanoparticles, mainly determined by the grafting between both materials and the nanoparticles morphology, obtaining better properties in comparison to the simple mixing of both polymers. 9 In the last years, many studies have reported the syntheses of hybrid nanoparticles incorporating different proteins such as casein, [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] collagen, 21 and zein.…”

Material and Environmental Properties of Natural Polymers and Their Composites for Packaging Applications—A Review

“…The food, textiles, water treatment, and cosmetics products in the present market contain natural polymers as emulsifiers and as antimicrobial and thickening agents. The film-forming abilities and bonding properties of natural polymers increased their uses in packaging and coating applications [ 132 , 133 , 134 ].…”