Enhancing cherry tomato packaging: Evaluation of physicochemical, mechanical, and antibacterial properties in tannic acid and gallic acid crosslinked cellulose/chitosan blend films

Tianyu Hou; Raja Venkatesan; Thulasidhas Dhilipkumar; Vishnuvarthanan Mayakrishnan; Chaitany Jayprakash Raorane; Siva Sankar Sana; Mushtaq Ahmad Ansari; Seong-Cheol Kim

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.138276

Enhancing cherry tomato packaging: Evaluation of physicochemical, mechanical, and antibacterial properties in tannic acid and gallic acid crosslinked cellulose/chitosan blend films

Int J Biol Macromol. 2024 Dec 2:285:138276. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.138276. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Tianyu Hou¹, Raja Venkatesan², Thulasidhas Dhilipkumar³, Vishnuvarthanan Mayakrishnan⁴, Chaitany Jayprakash Raorane⁵, Siva Sankar Sana⁵, Mushtaq Ahmad Ansari⁶, Seong-Cheol Kim⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China.
² School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-Ro, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea; Department of Biomaterials, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, SIMATS, Saveetha University, Chennai 600077, Tamil Nadu, India. Electronic address: rajavenki101@gmail.com.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, India; Centre for Flexible Electronics and Advanced Materials, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, India.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education, Krishnankovil, Srivilliputtur 626126, Tamil Nadu, India.
⁵ School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-Ro, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-Ro, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: sckim07@ynu.ac.kr.

PMID: 39631612
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.138276

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the characteristics of composites fabricated from cellulose (CL) and chitosan (CS) blends that were reinforced with different tannic acid (TA) and gallic acid (GA) concentrations. The structure and antibacterial activity of CL/CS composite films were investigated with the addition of TA and GA. The composite films were subjected to mechanical, water contact angle (WCA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and antibacterial activity tests. The FTIR results and the uniform dense SEM images confirmed the interaction of TA and GA with the CL/CS blends. The water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of films with 5 wt% TA and GA improved by 23.02 %. The tensile strength of the CCTA-3 film was 27.67 MPa, demonstrating higher tensile properties compared to films made from CL and CS blend film (13.20 MPa). The prepared films also showed increased resistance to moisture and water, as indicated by their higher water contact angle (WCA) values (59.43°). The antibacterial activity of the films was effective against food-borne bacteria such as S. aureus and E. coli due to the addition of TA and GA. The shelf-life of cherry tomatoes increased by approximately 15 days when covered in CCTA-3 instead of polyethylene film. Based on the results, CL/CS blend films containing TA could be beneficial for use in active food packaging.

Keywords: Cellulose; Chitosan; Food packaging; Gallic acid; Tannic acid.