Vanillin as a natural cross-linking agent in chitosan-based films: Optimizing formulation by response surface methodology

TOMADONI BARBARA; ANSORENA MR; A.G. PONCE; PEREDA, M

POLYMER TESTING

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2019 vol. 78 p. 1 - 11

0142-9418

One way of improving mechanical and water barrier properties of chitosan films is through cross-linking reactions. Cross-linking agents usually used for this purpose include glutaraldehyde, glyoxal, and formaldehyde,which may cause some undesirable side effects and are consider health hazards. Hence, the objective of this workwas to optimize the formulation of chitosan (CH) films with vanillin as a natural antioxidant cross-linking agent,to simultaneously improve their physical, barrier, antioxidant and mechanical properties. Three parameterswere studied at three levels: vanillin content (0, 25 and 50% w/w chitosan), glycerol content (30, 45 and 60%w/w chitosan) and drying temperature (35, 50 and 65 °C). Response surface methodology (RSM) and desirabilityfunction (D) were used to find the levels of each factor that simultaneously optimize different properties of thefilms: opacity value, total soluble matter (TSM), Young modulus (YM), T0 and Tmax parameters (obtained from hermogravimetric analysis), water vapor permeability (WVP), total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidantcapacity by DPPH method. Fifteen formulations combining the studied factors were prepared according to a BoxBehnken design. An optimal chitosan film formulation was found, with vanillin content of 37.5% (w/w of CH),glycerol content of 45% (w/w of CH) and drying temperature of 57.5 °C. RSM approach using the desirability function was found to be an effective tool to investigate changes in films properties and to search for the optimalactive chitosan film formulation with a natural cross-linking agent, such as vanillin.