Cellulose-Based Controlled Release Systems for Antimicrobial Propionic Acid

Roi Rutenberg, Biochemistry and food science, Hebrew University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

A series of biodegradable cellulose-derived active films capable for controlled release of antimicrobial propionic acid (PA) was prepared. b-cyclodextrin (b-CD) usually used for encapsulation of lipophilic compounds was utilized here to host a hydrophilic PA. It was found that addition of b-CD notably enhanceג capacity of the celluloses matrix and resulted in up to ten-fold increase in the amount of encapsulated PA. In addition, b-CD resulted in a two-fold prolongation of the effective PA release duration. It was also found that an addition of b-CD alone causes undesired effect on mechanical (tensile strength, elongation at break, Young modulus) and morphological properties of the films. Interestingly, when b-CD was combined with PA its undesired effects were subdued. Thus, this work demonstrates that b-CD can be effectively utilized also for hosting of hydrophilic molecules. Moreover, b-CD and PA have a synergetic effect on each other and result in formation of biodegradable active films that benefit good mechanical and physical properties, high antimicrobial agent content and the effective release ability.