It demonstrated good antibacterial properties compared to native chitosan.
The new additive could be incorporated in polyethylene, leading to
films with better transparency compared to films compounded
with native chitosan. The PEGylated chitosan film exhibit anti-
bacterial activity which was not detected in the chitosan based
film. The thermal and mechanical properties of the films were
evaluated using DSC and tensile analysis. The thermal behavior
of the film was governed by the bulk LDPE material due to the
small additive concentration, yet the footprint of the additive
was detectable. The addition of PEGylated chitosan decreased
the Young modulus, which was correlated to the PEG’s
compatibilizer-like effect. These results strengthen our initial
hypothesis which suggests that increased anti-bacterial activity
can be achieved by incorporating side chain enhancing the
competabilty with plastic materials.
Further study is needed in order to develop other additive
molecules that meet all the requirements for active packaging.