Salvatore MARULLO1, Francesca D'ANNA1
1Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Oxidation and microbial contamination events pose serious threat to human health, and for this reason materials with inherent antimicrobial and antioxidant ability, that are also eco-and biocompatible, are especially sought in food or biomedical fields. In the framework of our interest in supramolecular and polymer gels in non-conventional solvents,1-3 we herein describe supramolecular biopolymer-based gels in ionic liquids (ILs) formed by binary mixtures of biopolymers like cellulose, chitin, lignin and chitosan.
As solvents, we employed ILs bearing aliphatic or aromatic cations, with anions like acetate, chloride and dimethylphosphate. Unlike biopolymer-based gels in conventional solvents, our gels do not require any covalent cross-linker to form. We characterized these materials for their porosity, swelling and rheology.
Then, we assessed the antioxidant ability of our gels, by the DPPH assay, finding that all the gels are efficient and fast antioxidants, significantly more than their single components.
Our gels also showed bactericidal activity towards bacterial strains like E. coli and S. coelicolor, with a prominent influence of the IL anion and gel porosity on both antioxidant and antimicrobial activity.
References:
[1] C. Rizzo, G. Misia, S. Marullo, F. Billeci, F. D’Anna, Green Chem., 2022, 24, 1318.
[2] B. Saavedra, A. Meli, C. Rizzo, D. J. Ramon, F. D’Anna, Green Chem., 2022, 23, 6555.
[3] F. Billeci, F. D’Anna, H. Q. N. Gunaratne, N. V. Plechkova, K. R. Seddon, Green Chem., 2018, 20, 4268.