Cellullose properties modifications by pseudocapsaicin grafting

MARTINI, RAQUEL; SERRANO, LUIS; BARBOSA, SILVIA; LABIDI, JALEL

Niza

Conferencia; EPNOE 2013. Internacional Polysaccharide Conference; 2013

Cellulose is one of the most abundant material in nature. Furthermore of their biological function, cellulose can be extracted from cell wall and applied in several industrial applications. Thus, it can be used in papers, pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics and in innovative materials as e.g. nanocomposites, packaging, coatings and dispersion technology. With the aim of extend cellulose applications and produce so called ?smart? materials, new functionality can be introduced by physical or chemical modifications. Taking into account that capsaicin, the active component of chili peppers is a good antifungal agent, a possible new material could be obtained by chemical reaction between this drug and cellulose. In this work, the capsaicin grafting onto cellulose using polycarboxylic acid as linking agent is proposed. The reaction occurrence was corroborated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and UV-vis spectrophotometry in reflectance mode. Modified cellulose with less than 2 wt% of capasicin shows a strong change in antifungal activity respect to unmodified one. This activity was evaluated by fungal grow inhibition test with two different fungi, Trametes versicolor and Gloeophyllum trabeum. Modified cellulose samples showed high percentage of fungal growth inhibition demonstrating the success of the cellulose modification and the high anti-fungal power of the grafting molecule.