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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Dairy and Functional Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #334922
Title: Electrospun ultra-fine cellulose acetate fibrous mats containing tannic acid-Fe+++ complexes

Author
item YANG, WEIQIAO - Tianjin University
item SOUSA, ANA M.M. - Orise Fellow
item Fan, Xuetong
item Jin, Zhonglin
item LI, XIHONG - Tianjin University
item Tomasula, Peggy
item Liu, Linshu

Submitted to: Carbohydrate Polymers
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/26/2016
Publication Date: 10/27/2016
Citation: Yang, W., Sousa, A., Fan, X., Jin, Z.T., Li, X., Tomasula, P.M., Liu, L.S. 2016. Electrospun ultra-fine cellulose acetate fibrous mats containing tannic acid-Fe+++ complexes. Carbohydrate Polymers. 157:1173-1179. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.10.078.

Interpretive Summary: Tannic acid (TA) is a polyphenol isolated from tea and a wide range of plant products and has shown antioxidant activity that is beneficial for food preservation and human health. Films of TA complexed with Fe3+ can extend the duration of TA, while reduce TA’s activity due to the limited surface area. In the present study, the TA and Fe3+ complexes were incorporated to cellulose acetate (CA) microfibers (d < 300 nm) by the method of electrospinning. The resultant fibrous composites retain the antioxidant activity of the incorporated TA that releases from the matrix phase at slow dissolution rate. The CA fibers reinforced with TA and Fe3+ complexes may be of interest for the development of active packaging that can extend the shelf life of perishable foods.

Technical Abstract: Cellulose acetate (CA) fibrous mats with improved mechanical and antioxidant properties were produced by a simple, scalable and cost-effective electrospinning method. Fibers loaded with small amounts of TA-Fe+++ complexes showed an increase in tensile strength of approximately 117% when compared to that of neat CA and were more resistant than those loaded with TA alone. The water uptake of the fibers increased upon TA or TA-Fe+++ incorporation while their thermal behavior was only slightly affected. Fibrous mats loaded with TA-Fe+++ showed comparable antioxidant activity with that of CA/TA mats, and a much slower TA release. These results suggest that TA-Fe+++ complexes can be incorporated into electrospun CA fibers to improve their mechanical properties and antioxidant activity which may be of interest for the development of active packaging that can extend the shelf life of perishable foods.