Wang Hongxia, Liao Yu, Wu Ailiang, Li Bing, Qian Jun, Ding Fuyuan
School of Printing and Packaging, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
Polymers (Basel). 2019 Feb 20;11(2):368. doi: 10.3390/polym11020368.
Environmentally friendly food packaging currently attracts much interest. Sodium trimetaphosphate (STMP) finds specialized applications in food, but it is rarely used as a crosslinking agent. In this study, STMP was used as a crosslinking agent to prepare chitosan/methylcellulose composite films. Both antibacterial and physicochemical properties of the composite film were improved by crosslinking with STMP. The crosslinked films, with good antibacterial activity (~99%), had increased tensile strength, a higher elongation at break, a lower swelling ratio and solubility, and a lower enzymatic degradation than the non-crosslinked films. Furthermore, the crosslinked films showed an excellent preservative effect on fresh-cut wax gourd after three days at room temperature. The obtained films crosslinked by STMP can be potentially applied to the food industry, such as food functional packaging, providing a novel alternative to traditional plastic packages.
环保型食品包装目前备受关注。三聚偏磷酸钠（STMP）在食品中有特殊应用，但很少用作交联剂。在本研究中，STMP被用作交联剂来制备壳聚糖/甲基纤维素复合膜。通过与STMP交联，复合膜的抗菌性能和物理化学性能均得到改善。交联膜具有良好的抗菌活性（约99%），其拉伸强度增加，断裂伸长率更高，溶胀率和溶解度更低，酶降解率也低于未交联膜。此外，交联膜在室温下放置三天后对鲜切冬瓜显示出优异的保鲜效果。通过STMP交联得到的膜可潜在地应用于食品工业，如食品功能包装，为传统塑料包装提供了一种新的替代品。
