Research Article Open Access

Modified Cellulosic Materials with Antioxidant and AntimicrobialProperties for Pharmaceutical Applications

Abstract

Elaboration of a two steps physico-chemical process to obtain antimicrobial and antioxidant materials. A two-step process was used for modification of a cellulose/chitin mix fiber (CC)first an enzymatic activation with a commercial cellulase enzyme was applied and then a coupling reaction with phenolic antioxidants such as p-hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA),gallicacid(GA) and eugenol (Eu) was carried out to evolve antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Both the enzyme activated and the subsequently modified with antioxidant moieties samples were characterized by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetry. Furthermore, the antioxidant and antibacterial capacities were tested. All obtained results confirm the morphological and structural changes on the fiber surface after the twostep procedure of modification. Based on the XPS results, the modification degrees of the superficial layers of the fibers varied between 35 and 43%. Both the antimicrobial and radical scavenging activities were up to 100% and the order of the antioxidant activity can be written as: CC/Eu > CC/ GA > CC/HBA. Materials with these functionalities can be widely applied in the dermo-cosmetic field to protect the skin from oxidative stress, as transdermal patches which could be effectively used as a material in wound dressings.

Anamaria Irimia, Emilia Csiszar, Marius Dobromir, Silvia Paţachia, Gina-Mihaela Pricope, Nicoleta Damian and Cornelia Vasile*.

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