title: Enhancing the release of the antioxidant tocopherol from polypropylene films by incorporating the natural plasticizers lecithin, olive oil, or sunflower oil.
abstract: In this work, natural plasticizers-modified polypropylenes intended for food active packaging were developed. Sunflower oil, olive oil, and soy lecithin, without any known harmful effects or toxicity, were employed as natural plasticizers, also implementing the attractiveness of using synthetic plastics on active packaging developments. Their incorporation during the extrusion of polypropylene was tried as a means to obtain polymers with improved diffusion paths, allowing differences in antioxidant release rates for active packaging materials. Thermal and rheological characterization of the films showed that blending natural plasticizers do not significantly modify their thermal properties; however, small variations of viscoelastic properties were observed. Furthermore, the resulting release of tocopherol was highly dependent on the polymer formulation. Furthermore, it was clearly time-controlled by using those natural plasticizers, especially olive oil. Antioxidant activity results also showed that packaged foods are protected against oxidative degradation over time, resulting from the improved release of the antioxidants.
authors.affiliation: Polymer Group, Centro de Investigacións Tecnolóxicas, Universidade de A Coruña , Campus de Esteiro s/n, 15403 Ferrol, Spain.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: López de Dicastillo
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ares Pernas
authors.forename: María del Mar
authors.initials: Mdel M
authors.lastname: Castro López
authors.forename: José Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: López Vilariño
authors.forename: María Victoria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: González Rodríguez
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000737:chemistry*; D018857:Food Packaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007700:Kinetics; D054709:Lecithins / Q000737:chemistry*; D000069463:Olive Oil; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D011126:Polypropylenes / Q000737:chemistry; D000074242:Sunflower Oil; D024505:Tocopherols / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D054709:Lecithins; D000069463:Olive Oil; D010938:Plant Oils; D011126:Polypropylenes; D000074242:Sunflower Oil; D024505:Tocopherols