Jiang Zhuolun, Ngai To
Department of Chemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, China.
Polymers (Basel). 2022 Apr 10;14(8):1533. doi: 10.3390/polym14081533.
The application of cellulose in the food packaging field has gained increasing attention in recent years, driven by the desire for sustainable products. Cellulose can replace petroleum-based plastics because it can be converted to biodegradable and nontoxic polymers from sustainable natural resources. These products have increasingly been used as coatings, self-standing films, and paperboards in food packaging, owing to their promising mechanical and barrier properties. However, their utilization is limited because of the high hydrophilicity of cellulose. With the presence of a large quantity of functionalities within pristine cellulose and its derivatives, these building blocks provide a unique platform for chemical modification via covalent functionalization to introduce stable and permanent functionalities to cellulose. A primary aim of chemical attachment is to reduce the probability of component leaching in wet and softened conditions and to improve the aqueous, oil, water vapor, and oxygen barriers, thereby extending its specific use in the food packaging field. However, chemical modification may affect the desirable mechanical, thermal stabilities and biodegradability exhibited by pristine cellulose. This review exhaustively reports the research progress on cellulose chemical modification techniques and prospective applications of chemically modified cellulose for use in food packaging, including active packaging.
近年来，在对可持续产品的需求推动下，纤维素在食品包装领域的应用越来越受到关注。纤维素可以替代石油基塑料，因为它可以从可持续的自然资源转化为可生物降解且无毒的聚合物。由于其具有良好的机械性能和阻隔性能，这些产品越来越多地被用作食品包装中的涂层、自立膜和纸板。然而，由于纤维素的高亲水性，其应用受到限制。由于原始纤维素及其衍生物中存在大量官能团，这些结构单元为通过共价功能化进行化学改性提供了一个独特的平台，从而为纤维素引入稳定和永久的官能团。化学连接的一个主要目的是降低在潮湿和软化条件下成分浸出的可能性，并改善对水、油、水蒸气和氧气的阻隔性能，从而扩大其在食品包装领域的特定用途。然而，化学改性可能会影响原始纤维素所具有的理想机械稳定性、热稳定性和生物降解性。本综述详尽地报道了纤维素化学改性技术的研究进展以及化学改性纤维素在食品包装（包括活性包装）中的潜在应用。
