Sustainable Chitosan/Polybenzoxazine Films: Synergistically Improved Thermal, Mechanical, and Antimicrobial Properties

• Published in: Polymers Vol. 15; no. 4; p. 1021
• Main Authors: Periyasamy, Thirukumaran, Asrafali, Shakila Parveen, Raorane, Chaitany Jayprakash, Raj, Vinit, Shastri, Divya, Kim, Seong-Cheol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-02-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Acids; antibacterial; antibiofilm activity; Benzoxazines; biopolymer; Biopolymers; Blending; Chemicals; Chitosan; Curing; Dielectric properties; E coli; Escherichia coli; Fourier transforms; Gram-positive bacteria; Imines; Infrared spectroscopy; Mechanical properties; Medical equipment and supplies industry; Medical test kit industry; NMR; NMR spectroscopy; Novolacs; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Phenolic resins; Phenols; polybenzoxazine; Polybenzoxazines; Polymer blends; Polymer films; Polymerization; Polymers; ring-opening polymerization; Scanning microscopy; Staphylococcus aureus; Synthesis; Tensile strength; Tensile tests; Thermodynamic properties; Water absorption; Wound healing; United States; South Korea; United States > US; biopolymer; antibacterial; polybenzoxazine; ring-opening polymerization; antibiofilm activity
• ISSN: 2073-4360; 2073-4360
• DOI: 10.3390/polym15041021

Polybenzoxazines (Pbzs) are considered as an advanced class of thermosetting phenolic resins as they overcome the shortcomings associated with novolac and resole type phenolic resins. Several advantages of these materials include curing without the use of catalysts, release of non-toxic by-products during curing, molecular design flexibility, near-zero shrinkage of the cured materials, low water absorption and so on. In spite of all these advantages, the brittleness of Pbz is a knotty problem that could be solved by blending with other polymers. Chitosan (Ch), has been extensively investigated in this context, but its thermal and mechanical properties rule out its practical applications. The purpose of this work is to fabricate an entirely bio-based Pbz films by blending chitosan with benzoxazine (Bzo), which is synthesized from curcumin and furfuryl amine (curcumin-furfurylamine-based Bzo, C-fu), by making use of a benign Schiff base chemistry. FT-IR and
H-NMR spectroscopy were used to confirm the structure of C-fu. The impact of chitosan on benzoxazine polymerization was examined using FT-IR and DSC analyses. Further evidence for synergistic interactions was provided by DSC, SEM, TGA, and tensile testing. By incorporating C-fu into Ch, Ch-grafted-poly(C-fu) films were obtained with enhanced chemical resistance and tensile strength. The bio-based polymer films produced inhibited the growth of
and
, by reversible labile linkages, expanding Ch galleries, and releasing phenolic species, which was 125 times stronger than bare Ch. In addition, synthesized polybenzoxazine films [Ch/Poly(C-fu)] showed significant dose-dependent antibiofilm activity against
and
as determined by confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). This study suggests that bio-based Ch-graft-polymer material provide improved anti-bacterial property and characteristics that may be considered as a possibility in the near future for wound healing and implant applications.