Nguyen, T. M., Lim, Y. W., Jana, S., Rusli, W., Zhao, W., Choo, S. S. S., & Luo, H.-K. (2023). Low-Migration Macromolecular Benzophenones as UV Absorbers for Food Packaging Polymers. ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 5(9), 6932–6940. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.3c00969
Abstract:
Extending the durability of polymer plastics and minimizing toxicity concerns to humans and the environments are amongst the essential goals toward sustainability. Continuing our efforts in this area, we report herein the design, optimized synthesis and migration studies of macromolecular benzophenones (MBPs) using three important building blocks including poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) (PEAA), pentaerythritol and tris(2,3-epoxypropyl)isocyanurate, for sustainable food packaging applications. All MBPs are synthesized in gram scales with the synthetic limitations being investigated. Interestingly, polymer-bound triphenyl phosphine is found to be an effective and recyclable Lewis based catalyst for an epoxy ring opening reaction to prepare an MBP in only one step starting from 2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone. The migration profiles of MBPs are much improved in comparison with that of the small molecule, BP-1 (Uvinul® 3008) and on par with the FDA-approved macromolecular cyanoacrylate Uvinul® 3030 (UVN). They also show an excellent ability to protect polystyrene from photodegradation and yellowing processes, suggesting that they may find a real-life application in the plastic industry.
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Funding Info:
This research is supported by core funding from: Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment
Grant Reference no. : ICES/14-1E5A04
This research / project is supported by the SERC - CRF
Grant Reference no. : N.A.