Development and characterization of active packaging based on ultraviolet polymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate
Abstract
Active packaging can be described as the use of packaging materials that interact with the product or the internal package headspace. In addition to serving regular packaging functions as moisture and oxygen barrier, active packaging can be applicable as oxygen or ethylene scavengers, antimicrobial agents or flavor enhancement. 2-Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) is widely used in biomedical area and recently approved by Food & Drug Administration (FDA) as food contact materials. HEMA is a hydrophilic monomer, which polymerizes under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Active components can be evenly distributed in liquid HEMA and then entrapped in HEMA films through UV polymerization. The overall hypothesis for this project is that HEMA can be applicable for active packaging materials to immobilize enzymes, and active components can be incorporated into HEMA based films to scavenge oxygen and provide antimicrobial properties. In this study, physical and mechanical properties of HEMA based films were characterized; the results indicated that incorporating plasticizers polyethylene glycol and glycerol significantly increased the water vapor permeability and increase the flexibility of the films. Immobilization of glucose oxidase using a HEMA based formula was successful in terms of retaining activity of the immobilized enzymes under various pH and temperature conditions and maintaining high activity after sixty days of storage at 7°C.The immobilized glucose oxidase demonstrated different optimum temperature and pH than free glucose oxidase. Moreover, sodium ascorbate, glucose with glucose oxidase and glucose with glucose oxidase and catalase were incorporated into HEMA based films and evaluated as oxygen scavengers. Finally, data suggested freeze dried T4 bacteriophage can be incorporated into HEMA based films for specifically targeting Escherichia coli.
Degree
M.S.
Advisors
Morgan, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Food Science|Packaging
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